Survive
by LanaaLuthor
Summary: Keira didn't do many things in her life right, falling for the Councilor Kane was one of them. Yet, it was the one thing that felt right. The lovers are parted when she's put on the ship heading to Earth along with the rest of the 100.
1. Prolog

**Survive**

Story based on the wonderful the 100 series.

**Description: **Keira didn't do many things in her life right, falling for the Councilor Kane was one of them. Yet, it was the one thing that felt right. The lovers are parted when she's put on the ship heading to Earth along with the rest of the 100.

* * *

**AN: **There a video. It's kind of spoilery. Still, the story here will be much more detailed and will continue after the video ends.

youtube

* * *

watch?v=2XNEwPbuwk4

full link in my profile

* * *

**Prolog**

He was late and she wasn't sure what was detaining him. She knew he wouldn't just forget about her with no reason, so she decided to wait for him to hear his explanation. If only the waiting didn't involve her sticking on the outside of his room, that was.

Keira Malone wasn't a saint. In fact she was far from it. Ever since she'd lost her parents when she'd been ten, she'd needed to fend for herself. She'd been doing quite well when considering the circumstances. Sometimes she'd been forced to steal, but so far she'd successfully avoided getting arrested and being sent to prison. The law on the ship was far from perfect in her opinion. Most of the time when an adult committed a crime, they got floated, which basically meant being sent into the out space to die. The juvenile delinquents were luckier as they were usually sent to prison that had its place on the lower part of the Arc.

Keira sighed heavily and decided to try and pick the lock in Marcus's room. She could wait for him inside, preferably naked on his bed. She was sure he would like that. Still, she would make him work hard to make up for him being so late.

Without hesitation, she got to work.

A relationship with a member of the Council, especially when he was thirty nine and she was barely eighteen, was probably one of the things she did wrong in her life. Still, she couldn't stop it. He couldn't seem to do it either and he'd tried on many occasions. Their feelings had always won out in the end. The whole thing had started a few months ago and Keira hoped that once she reached her eighteenth birthday, they would be able to slowly prepare the inhabitants of the Arc for their come out. It would be hard and it would probably cost Marcus his Council seat, but they loved each other. He'd told her that she was all he needed. Before her, there hadn't been any love in his life. He'd lost his hope for finding the right girl completely when he'd finally stumbled upon her. They'd met as he'd caught her on stealing, but instead of throwing her to prison, he'd decided to help her. It didn't really suit his character as he was one of the most ruthless members of the Council, but maybe he'd seen something in her that told him to help her. Maybe he'd seen the future.

Now, if only that lock…

"Hey! What are you doing?!" she heard a sharp voice from behind her. A voice that for sure did not belong to Marcus.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath and tried to run, but it was too late. They caught her, whoever that was.

"Got ya!" she heard a manly voice in her ear as he held on to her.

She hated somebody to be that close to her and not being the man she wanted there, so she stepped on his foot hard and then punched him in the nose. She vaguely registered that he was one of the guards as she made a dash down the corridor.

Too late again. Another guard came to meet her and she was trapped.

* * *

"We're almost ready to launch, sir," Sinclair notified. "The last of the 100 are getting aboard just now."

"Good," Jaha nodded and looked at his fellow Council member, Marcus Kane.

"Closing procedure," Sinclair informed. "Begin to launch."

After another five minutes, the ship took off, leaving the Arc forever and heading toward the Earth.

"God be with them," Jaha said.

"Let's hope the Earth is habitable," Marcus just spoke and directed himself to the exit. He had somewhere to be after all.

"Mr. Councilor," a guard caught him on the way to his room.

"Right now is not a good time," Kane brushed him off.

"Sir, there's been a attempt of breaking in into your room," the guard was persistent.

Marcus came to a sudden stop and looked at him.

"Who?"

"A girl. No family, no real job, no use to the Arc."

"Who?!" Marcus repeated in a much harsher voice. He could feel that something bad had happened. Something ominous. He could only hope he was wrong. Maybe they didn't throw her into prison. Maybe they locked her up in order for him to make the decision to float her. She was almost eighteen after all. Only he would never kill her. He would give everything to…

"The girl was identified as Keira Malone, sir."

"Where is she?!" Kane demanded an answer, feeling his blood boiling, feeling that he was to find out something really bad. Something that could define his whole existence. He knew that getting into a relationship with the girl was a wrong move, but he couldn't stop himself. He wanted her too badly. She was the only thing that seemed to bring his humanity back up. He felt alive only by her side. By everyone else he was viewed as a heartless bastard. She was the only one who could truly feel the fire of his affection. He would do absolutely _anything _for her, but right now he wasn't sure it was enough.

"We were one person short on the ship, sir. The girl got sick in the last minute and couldn't make the journey. Malone flew instead," the guard notified.

"To Earth?" Marcus asked through a clenched teeth. All he wanted to do right now was to throw himself at the guard and beat him to a pulp, maybe even worse, maybe even float him, but he couldn't. One false move and he could be the one to be floated. He wouldn't be trusted anymore if the Arc found out about his love affair with a minor.

"Yes, sir, to Earth. Was that the wrong call?" the man got worried.

"No," Marcus said, forcing his voice to sound normal, even cruel. "It was an excellent one. At least we don't have a problem anymore." He patted the guard's back and walked toward his room in a normal peace even though everything inside of him was raging, simmering just below the surface, ready to explode.

When the door to his room closed behind him, his eyes spotted a bra lying on the bed. Her bra. She must've left it there this very morning. He could still smell her in the air, a flowery fragrant added to the shampoos on the ship.

Suddenly, a truly savage scream came out of Marcus's mouth. A yelp of lost, of broken heart, of fear for the woman that was the only one who'd managed to open his heart, the only one that he'd fallen for. And now she was gone. It was even worse than death itself, he thought and hit the wall with his fist, his eyes watering up from both the physical and emotional pain. She was on Earth now. She was in an environment that was probably hostile, probably toxic. It would be truly better for her to be floated. On Earth she would die an agonizing death caused by the radiation and if by some miracle she wouldn't, she could still be killed by wild animals, cold or starvation.

Marcus couldn't take it anymore. He just couldn't.

* * *

She kicked and screamed, but it didn't help her at all. It only made the situation worse.

"Hey, calm down. You're all right," a blonde girl said to her in a soothing voice as she was buckled up in a chair right next to her.

"I can't… I can't leave… I just can't… No… Please!" Keira screamed, but the guard that brought her in was already gone. The door sealed. The launch protocol initiated.

"Why not? You'll have a better chance down there than in prison," the girl wanted to make her feel better, but it didn't work.

"You don't understand… I… I have someone here on the Arc… I can't leave him… I…"

"Oh, so this is about a guy," the girl saddened. "I'm sorry. But you're not alone, you have me. I'm Rebecca. What's your name?"

"Keira," she answered and watched helplessly as the ship was freed from the Arc and they started their journey toward the Earth.

* * *

It was truly a bumpy ride and the worse in her entire life. She read of travelling in the air, in space, of travelling in cars, but she never really experienced any of those as she'd been born and raised on the Arc. There was no alternative. It was the only place the life could go on.

Now she survived a trip in a space ship and its crashing into the Earth. She knew that if they truly crashed, they would be death, but it still felt like a crash.

Then one of them, Bellamy, if she remembered the name correctly, opened the door and they could step into the new world.

For a moment there Keira forgot about her miserable life and was truly in awe of what she saw. There were trees and grass and everything was so beautifully green. The air wasn't toxic at all. It was amazing. She could smell freshness and sweetness. It was nothing like she remembered from the stuffiness in the Arc.

As her feet finally hit the ground, she was leveled once again. Because the only person she wanted there with her was the one that wasn't. And she probably would never see him again.

"Hey, all right?" Rebecca came closer and put a hand on her shoulder.

Keira just shook her head.

"Let's just stick together, ok?"


	2. Chapter 1

**Part 01**

_She could make it, she thought. This week's Council meeting was unusually long. It was already past dinner and they were still inside, talking. Their meals were waiting for them in the dining room nearby that was now completely empty. She could make it if she went in there fast. _

_ She was starving. She was just so fucking hungry. She didn't have a job on the ship. She wasn't wanted. She didn't have a family to provide her the necessary nutrition. Of course, everyone on the Arc was equal and they were all given food, but they had to give something in return as well. The last time she'd gone to get her ration, they'd scanned her and found out she hadn't had a job. She'd got so little that she'd barely survived on it. Tonight she didn't even bother to go in fear of rousing any suspicions. _

_ She never felt more useless than in this very moment. There was no one to care for her. She knew she needed a job, but there wasn't many positions available at the moment and she wasn't qualified for those. As a last result she would have to report her predicament to the Council, but somehow she was afraid. She'd already done a lot of bad things. Some people must've seen her stealing. If she went to the Council as everyone who wanted to get a job, she would risk exposure. She would risk being thrown into prison. There was food in there and a warm place to live in, but she was way too close her eighteenth birthday. What if they just float her? She was no use to the society after all. _

_ She was a zero, she thought, but this time she didn't cry. She'd toughened up by now. This was just life and she wasn't one of the lucky ones. She needed to deal with it._

_ It was now or never. She made a dash into the dining room and managed to grab a sandwich when suddenly, a hand clenched over her wrist, closing it in a strong vice._

_ Keira gasped. It was over, she thought. It was truly over. She was caught on stealing. Nothing would ever justify that. Nothing and no one would safe her. It was just over._

_ She looked at her oppressor and met with eyes almost as brown as her own. The man they belonged to was yet the worst man that could find her. He was merciless. He would sooner float her than listen to her. She knew it all too well._

_ "Who are you and why are you stealing?" Marcus Kane asked in a voice that didn't show off any emotions. She couldn't tell if he was truly angry or not. His poker face was mastered to perfection as well._

_ "I… I'm… sorry…" she finally squealed. Pain shot from her wrist that Kane was still holding on to. He must see it, because he released it and she could rub her hand. It was unexpected, she realized. He should be ruthless. He shouldn't care if he hurt her._

_ "Who are you?" he repeated his first question._

_ "My name is Keira Malone," she finally answered in a scared voice, looking everywhere but into his eyes. There was something in them, something she couldn't quite put a name to. Something that made her feel both uncomfortable and safe. That didn't make any sense, she realized._

_ "Why are you stealing?" he repeated the second question._

_ "I'm hungry," she simply said and finally dared look at him. If he hadn't mentioned floating so far, maybe there was hope for her after all. Could she believe it? Maybe it was safer for her to be realistic. Optimism didn't help people._

_ To her surprise, Kane grabbed the tray with his ration of food with one hand and her arm with another._

_ "Come with me, quickly," he commanded and led the way to the door._

_ She just stood there, not understanding a thing._

_ "I said quickly!" He turned in the door. "Unless you want someone else to catch you here."_

_ She didn't have to be told again. She caught up with him and after they'd walked through two long corridors, he opened a door to one of the rooms and let her in._

_ As the door closed behind them, she realized she must be in Kane's private room. She spotted a washbowl, a cabinet, a small wardrobe, a table with a chair next to is and a bed. That last one felt too intimate and suddenly she wanted to run. He surely wouldn't bring her here to offer her freedom in exchange for sex, would he?_

_ Marcus walked over to the table and placed the tray on it, then he gestured for Keira to sit._

_ "Why won't you just float me already?" she asked, this time focused on his face instead of trying to avoid looking at him. She needed answers. She needed to know what he was planning. He didn't strike her as a man who really wanted to use her. As much as he was ruthless and people hated him for it, as much as he was believed to be the villain in the Arc, he was still a Council Member. Jaha wouldn't have chosen him if he hadn't trusted him._

_ "I don't want to hurt you," Marcus told her to her astonishment as he sat on the bed. "I want to help you."_

_ "Why?" she asked, still not understanding. "Why the sudden change of heart?" She finally walked over to the table and sat in the chair. She was too weak from malnutrition to stand on her own feet and not stumble._

_ Her eyes met his browns again and she found something in them that disturbed her. All her life she'd had the image of Marcus Kane in her head. It wasn't a pleasant one. He wasn't a man she'd like to cross, but now… now there was something soft in those eyes. Something that told her she could trust him. Something that softened her heart. He was a deep man with a wounded soul, she realized. Maybe beneath the hard surface there was still a good heart. Maybe he was constantly being faced with difficult decisions and that was why people hated him. Maybe those decisions had simply taken a bad toll on him._

_ "I don't really have an answer for you," Marcus just said and gestured toward the tray. "Eat. It's all yours."_

_ "But…"_

_ "Eat. I have more than enough and you look like you might fall over."_

_ She tentatively reached to the tray, but soon the hunger took the better of her and she started eating._

_ "Don't you have someone in your life? Someone to take care of you?" Marcus asked after a few minutes of watching her. There was something about this girl, something that made him feel all too much. There was a softness in his chest right now and he wasn't sure if he liked it. He couldn't possibly be thinking that she was beautiful. She could've been his daughter, so he couldn't be thinking about her in that specific way. She was too young. He was too old. He could just help her and forget about her. And to why he was actually doing it instead of punishing her, he really did not have an answer. Or maybe he did have, but wasn't sure he wanted to go there._

_ "I'm all alone," she replied._

_ "If you don't have a job and food, you should've come to the Council. That's what we do. We organize things in the Arc, we help people."_

_ "Yeah, but you kill them, too," Keira said. "I did way too many bad things to feel safe going to you for help."_

_ "Touché," he admitted. "What exactly did you do?"_

_ "Stole some things, some people saw my face so I rather not show myself in that particular part of the Arc again… Once I hit a man, because he was trying to catch me. I knocked him out."_

_ "You must be strong then if you managed to do that," Marcus noticed, more and more fascinated with the girl with every passing second spent in her company._

_ "Nah, I just know where to hit." She shrugged._

_ "Listen… I'll give you food and you can spend the night here if you want. No catch," he added quickly, because he didn't want to sound like an old man that was horny for a teenager. He wanted her to feel safe in this place, not to run away from him and get herself into even bigger trouble. "And tomorrow I'll fix you a job. I won't say anything to anyone, I promise. I'll make sure it's done quietly and you'll be safe."_

_ "It needs to be around here," she finally spoke. She wasn't sure if what was happening wasn't a dream. Such things just didn't happen in the real life. At least, they didn't in the life she knew and was used to. She could maybe expect something like that from Jaha, if he'd been the one to caught her, but certainly nor from Marcus Kane._

_ "All right," he agreed._

_ "Thank you," she said and smiled to him a little nervously, still not sure if she should be smiling to him at all._

_ And he thought he'd never seen anything as beautiful in his life._

* * *

They weren't alone and just like that, she knew that her life on Earth wouldn't be a picnic. She shouldn't expect anything else anyway. She was used to life giving her lemons.

They'd been all happy for a moment. She'd even managed to momentarily forget about the tragedy her love life turned out to be. She'd almost dived into the fresh and cool water of the lake. Almost, because before that, she'd heard Jasper's terrified scream and the girl that had been already in, Octavia, had almost been killed by something that looked like a snake.

Next, they'd found out they weren't actually alone. Jasper had crossed the river and was speared. Keira had never been as frightened in her entire life.

Right now she was sitting near the fireplace that Bellamy started so they wouldn't freeze. Above all, she wanted Marcus there with her. She missed the comfort of his warm arms around her, the touch of his lips on her skin. She would feel much safer with him even when they had to go against the grounders and vicious animals. Everything would've been different with him there.

"Are you ok?" Rebecca asked as she sat down by her side. "You don't look so good."

"It's… I just miss someone," Keira finally spoke, hugging herself, more because of loneliness than the cold.

"Who is he?"

"He's… everything that he shouldn't be," Keira finally said and laughed bitterly. "But I love him and he loves me. I feel like I can't do this without him."

"Does he… like have a family or something?" Rebecca followed with another question. "You did say that you shouldn't…"

"No, nothing like that. He's not that bad either. It's just… he's older than me and I know if the people on the Arc knew about us… they wouldn't approve," Keira explained, weighting her words carefully. She did feel like talking to someone made her better, but she couldn't say too much in the same time. She didn't want to get Marcus in trouble if they ever managed to contact the Arc.

"Older, hah? How many years older?"

"Ehm… he's thirty nine," Keira said in a voice that was a little bit too quiet, but Rebecca heard her anyway.

"Wow! You diggin' the old guys! So cool!" the blonde exclaimed and it wasn't really the reaction Keira expected. "Is he good in the sack?" she asked when winking.

"Oh, yeah," Keira nodded and they both laughed.

"Bellamy is good, too," Rebecca noticed. "You should try it sometimes!"

"You didn't!" Keira was shocked.

"Oh, yes, I did!" Rebecca giggled. "And let me tell you, it was awesome! Earth sex is better than the Arc sex… I don't have a boyfriend that I love, so…"

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that to him. Even if I knew I would never see him again," Keira saddened.

"Oh, let me tell you something," Rebecca said knowingly," you're only saying it now, but once you get over him and trust me, you can get over all the greatest loves… you will like someone again."

"Right now I don't see it ever happening," Keira just said.

"I know, babe, I know," Rebecca put her arms around the girl and hugged her. "What's his name anyway?"

She was answered with silence, but she didn't push.

Keira realized that maybe she didn't have the person she truly wanted to be by her side, but she wasn't completely alone. What more, she seemed to find a friend and she'd never really had any. It was some comfort for her after all.

In that very moment Bellamy and Clarke brought food. They'd shot an animal in the forest and now they were frying it in the fire.

"There's plenty for everyone to get around!" Bellamy yelled.

Keira also heard Clarke whispering something about Jeremy.

"Do you think they'll help him?" she asked Rebecca as she'd taken an instant liking to Jeremy and would hate to see him die. They'd rescued him and brought to the camp, but he was in a bad condition.

"He's survived so far… maybe that kid will be lucky enough to pull through," Rebecca just shrugged. "Let's go get some food."

"First your wristband," the guy who stood by the fire said to Keira.

"What?" she asked, not really understanding.

"The wristband needs to go off and then you get to eat," he repeated, his voice unyielding.

"No! I won't take it off!" Keira denied and her other hand instinctually covered her wristband.

"Then you'll starve! Next!"

"Hey, why are you doing this?!" Rebecca asked the boy in anger.

"The Arc doesn't need to know we're alive. We're better off without them!" Bellamy followed with an answer and for a moment there, they were just challenging each other with their eyes. Keira couldn't understand how they could've ever had sex if they were acting like this now. Maybe she would never understand how a physical release without feelings could be good.

"It's just stupid! We were sent here to find out if we can live here! The Arc is dying and you want to cut the connection?!" Clarke came to us, furious. "We can't do this! Their lives depend on us!"

"They put us in prison and then shipped us to an almost certain death. We do not need them," Bellamy just said.

Keira retreated. She rather starve than take off her wristband, period. She was used to starving anyway.

"Here you go," Rebecca said when giving her a piece of freshly fried meat.

"How did you get it?" Keira asked, taking the food with gratitude. She really was hungry.

"I used their distraction," she said, very pleased with herself. "It probably won't work the next time, but for now, we won't starve. Why wouldn't you take the wristband off?" she asked after a moment.

"I just…" Keira started, "I just want him to know I'm alive."

"Who?" asked Finn when joining them with Clarke. "We figured we should stick together," he added when pointing their wrist bands. "So, who's the guy?"

"Her old boyfriend," Rebecca followed with an answer.

"He's not that old," Keira said, feeling a little insulted.

"Right, because forty is not that old," Rebecca just nodded and they all laughed.

"It's not forty!" Keira denied again.

"Well, it'll be in a couple of months… wait a sec!" she suddenly exclaimed like she had a light bulb moment. "It must be someone who knows what's going on! Someone important enough to know that we were sent here! Otherwise he wouldn't know about the wristbands!" she finished, very proud of herself.

"I still won't tell you," Keira just said when eating her meal.

"Is it Jaha?" Rebecca asked. "I always found him hot."

"Really?" Clarke raised her eyebrows at her. "Nah, I can't. He's my mom's friend!"

Keira actually burst out laughing, because the idea was just ridiculous to her.

"Not Jaha then," Rebecca sighed.

"As long as it's not Kane," Finn said, "hate the guy."

Keira almost stirred, but she tried very hard not to show off the emotions on her face. Luckily for her, Rebecca seemed to abandon the topic and now she asked about poor Jasper.

* * *

"How could they be dying so fast?!" Abigail Griffin asked Sinclair when watching the display on the screen. More than half of the wristbands seemed to be already deactivated. "It's not possible to die so fast from the radiation! And it they were killed off, we would know they were in distress before their death! It just doesn't make any sense!"

Marcus chose this moment to appear in the control room. He finally managed to pull himself together, then he drank two glasses of alcohol and thought that he might pull through without giving anything away.

He wanted Keira to survive, but as much as he did, he didn't believe the mission of the 100 could actually succeed.

"Are you all right?" Jaha asked him when studying his face.

"Yeah, fine," Marcus just nodded. "I told you this would happen," he pointed the screen. It was an act. He just wanted them to think that nothing had changed and that he was his old self.

"I still have hope," Abigail said. "We just need to find a way to contact them!"

"Meanwhile, we have something else to do," Jaha mentioned. "I received a very disturbing news about the air circulation in the Arc. I think we need another Council meeting."


	3. Chapter 2

**Part 02**

_That very first night they met, he let her sleep in his bed so she could get some rest. Then he ended up sitting in the chair the whole time, watching her. He couldn't really make out the feelings that were raging inside of him. They scared him and exhilarated him in the same time. Something in his chest began transforming as he watched Keira sleeping so soundly and so safely, her features completely different from the image of a scared and hungry girl he'd come across. In that very moment he knew that his life was about to change. He just wasn't sure if that would actually be a good change when it came to his judgment. This girl seemed to be awakening parts of him that he had no idea were still there. He'd thought he hadn't been capable of caring so deeply about someone. And here he was, doing just that barely hours from the first moment he'd seen her. It was dangerous and he needed to be careful. He knew that much._

_ He finally raised from his seat when another day on the Ark started. He was tired after a sleepless night and his back ached from staying in the same position for too long. As he left the room, he truly felt that he wasn't young anymore, because his body ached all over._

_ Keira chose the moment of his absence to wake up. For a moment there she wasn't sure where she was and why she felt so comfortable and safe. Then she remembered everything and started wandering where Kane went. Had he spent the night in some other room? With a woman? She felt an unexpected pang of jealousy and nearly laughed it off, stopped only by the door opening._

_ Kane walked inside, bringing breakfast and coffee._

_ "You're awake," he noticed from the lack of anything else to say. "Have you slept well?"_

_ "Probably for the first time since I can even remember," she answered when tentatively sitting on the bed. She wasn't exactly sure how to act around this man. She was afraid that he would have a change of heart, but him bringing her food again was a good sign. She could be relieved, she guessed._

_ "Well, tonight you'll be sleeping in your own bed in your own room," he assured her. "On my way to the dining room I checked the available position and as you don't have much experience the only choice would be the maintenance, so your room won't be a big as this one, but at least it's a start. You'll get a place to live and a daily ration of food."_

_ "Thank you, for doing this for me," she said honestly when meeting his eyes as he walked to the table to put the new tray of food there. From the lack of another chair, she would have to remain sitting on the bed._

_ "You're welcomed," he said. _

_ "I can't eat it all by myself today," she remarked. "I won't feel good if I bereave you of food the second time."_

_ "We'll share then," he suggested and they started eating._

_ "It's not true what they say about you," she suddenly said after a few brief moments of silence._

_ "Is that so?" he asked her, amused by that observation. "Well, I'm afraid it is," he added. "I just had a good day yesterday."_

_ She laughed and he followed, unable to stop himself. Their eyes met once again and they couldn't seem to look away._

_ There was definitely a connection, Keira was surprised to discover while he'd seen it all along._

_ From that time onward they didn't stop seeing each other. She was a constant visitor in his room where they were just talking. He sometimes visited her too, more often when she had a break from work. They felt good in each other's company, too good and they both seemed to be afraid to say out loud what they were actually starting to feel._

_ Keira felt special for the first time in her life. She must be when no one else had gotten to know Marcus like she had._

* * *

Marcus woke up in the morning and reached his hand out instinctively, looking for a warm body to wrap himself around and then sink in it deeply.

He ached inside, in his heart and he desperately needed her _now_. Only when his hands met nothing but empty and cold sheets, he remembered exactly what had happened and realized that it was the reason of the ache in his chest in the first place. It suddenly became too much for him. The mornings were the worst, he decided.

He didn't want to think about their past in fear of the pain to come, but he couldn't help it. He remembered when he'd once woken up to her kissing every inch of his face and her hand stroking his already hard cock. The moment he'd opened his eyes, they'd been already foggy with lust. She hadn't waited, she'd just straddled him, taking him inside her body that instance and he'd groaned deeply in his throat as he couldn't stop himself. She'd told him then that she loved catching him off guard like that, because he'd really let himself go. He'd been so responsive to her and he hadn't been holding back like he'd been still afraid of those feelings they had, like he'd still thought their relationship was wrong.

Right now, as he was alone in bed with Keira so far away he would probably never see her again, he didn't find the strength to get up and act like nothing had happened.

Only he had to. He had duties. He had decisions to make. Tough decisions. Unpopular ones. He still was one of the Councilors and he needed to safe the human race. Keira would want him to. She would want for him to go on. And he would keep doing that as long as he would be able to. For her if not for the people.

He finally pushed the covers away and got up, heading to the bathroom. There wasn't one in every single room, usually there was one bathroom per a corridor, but he had privileges he was now so grateful for. It just wouldn't do holding on to the poker face with people watching his every move.

The shower needed to be quick as always because of the water they needed to safe. Now more than ever.

Finally, Marcus dressed up and walked out of his room. As he took a turn, somebody slammed into him, nearly knocking him down.

If he couldn't be soft, if he couldn't show off the pain he felt, he would be ruthless instead. It was an effective way, he thought and before he realized, the poor man that bumped into him was beginning him not to float him.

"Marcus," suddenly there was a hand on his arm and a calming voice that belonged to Jaha, "let the man go. Nothing happened."

Marcus wanted to scream as loud as he could that _everything _had happened, but he chose not to. Instead he just walked away. He would go into control room under the false pretense of teasing Abigail and take a peek at the wristbands' signals. He feared that moment every single day. He feared that eventually he would step into the room to find out that Keira was dead. He didn't know how he would handle that, but knowing was better than the alternative.

He almost released a breath of relief as he noticed that her wristband was still active.

Only for how long…?

* * *

Jasper kept on screaming.

Keira had enough, but to the contrary to most of the 100, she felt truly sorry for the boy. It must be awful for him to be so unwanted. He was suffering, barely having survived being pierced with a spear, and people were complaining about the noise. How heartless must they be? Keira almost shivered at the thought. She wondered how they would feel in Jasper's shoes. Would they be so eager to kill - or die for that matter - then?

For a moment there, she contemplated what Marcus would do. If she asked anyone here, they would tell her that he would've killed the bastard hours ago. She wasn't so sure though. True, Marcus was forced to keep making unpopular decisions, but he had to think about the whole human race. There were only a few people in the Council against hundreds of civilians. If Marcus was here with her, she was pretty sure he would chose to save the boy rather than let him die fast. After all, it was another number to the population, wasn't it?

Another loud scream tore across their small camping and Keira raised from her place on the ground and decided to go see Clarke.

"Where are you going?" Rebecca, who'd been still sleeping just a moment before, asked.

"To see if I can help. I can't just sit here and do nothing," Keira answered.

Rebecca followed her.

"Just die already!" some boy yelled and put his jacket over his ears, clearly trying to catch some more sleep as it was early morning.

Keira chose to ignore that even though there was about a thousand things she wanted to say to him. She knew how it was to feel unwanted and expendable. She'd felt that most of her life, so she felt sorry for Jasper.

They finally reached the ship and walked inside, directing themselves up to where Clarke kept the injured boy.

"How can I help?" Keira just asked when crouching next to the Clarke by Jasper.

"You can make sure he stays cooler," Clarke said when handing her over a piece of rag and a bowl of water. "The fevers needs to go down. I'm planning a trip to the lake for the seaweeds. They seemed to make Jasper better before."

"There're creatures in the lake," Rebecca noticed.

"I won't let him die," Clarke just said harshly and took off. "Thanks for caring," she threw to Keira.

"Of course."

Keira didn't feel good about herself though. She really wished she could've said she was doing it for Jasper, but in fact she was doing it as much for him as she was doing it for herself. She needed to keep herself busy in order to not think too much. When she was empty handed and without a job to do, her mind travelled back to Marcus and it was only bringing her pain. She needed to fill her time with something else than that. Something useful.

"I'm sorry… I… I can't…" she heard a panicked voice that belonged to Rebecca and the blonde left.

Keira just sighed.

"Octavia?" she asked the girl for help. She was sitting by Monty who was still trying to contact the Ark, so far - no luck.

The girl nodded and came over, eager to help.

"You know, he saved my life and I didn't even know his name back then," she confessed when grabbing the bowl. "I'll bring fresh water."

Keira nodded.

* * *

"What happened?!" Marcus asked harshly as he burst into the control room.

"Clarke's wristband went off and then…" Abigail started with tears in her eyes. She was shaking. "Then… they all went off."

"What?!" Kane repeated in a voice so hard and so angry that Jaha shot him a look. "_All _of them? In the same time?!"

Abby just nodded when crying.

" I can't believe… I… How could this happen?"

"Abigail, calm down," Sinclair said to her when placing his hand on her shoulder. "There was no sign of distress before the signal was broken. They might all still be alive. Maybe it was some technical malfunction. There's still hope."

"No, there's not," Marcus said in a voice devoid of any human feeling. It was the only way for him now to speak without breaking down like Abigail did. "If they're off, they're dead. Simply as it sounds. I told you it wouldn't work!" He really wanted to hit something. Anything to keep the emotional pain at bay. He rather be in denial. Yes, that would be wise until he would be alone. "We need to talk about the reduction of the population. It's imperative we make a decision," he said and left the room.

On a way back to his place he grabbed a bottle of alcohol, not caring that it was supposed to be a medical supply in case of an emergency. It was an emergency for him. An emergency of a broken heart. No, he decided when he pushed the door to his room open and walked inside. It was a shredded heart, a heart carved to pieces or ripped apart.

He uncorked the bottle and took a gulp. He nearly choked as the liquid burnt its way down his throat. They weren't used to consuming too much alcohol in the Ark, if so, they had some light beers, but the stock had ended a few years back.

He felt dizzy, his vision went blurry, but it was good. He could numb himself with this.

* * *

"No! No! No!" Clarke screamed as their last chance at contacting the Ark was gone. Jasper had done the honors, but they only ended up frying it all and the wristbands were useless now.

Keira could just stood there. A moment before she'd been overcome with something nearly resembling happiness. Jasper had pulled through. They'd been about to contact the Arc.

And then everything had been ruined.

Marcus would think she was dead. _Dead_. She realized with horrification and didn't really know what to do with herself, how to pull through, how not to break down right there on the spot. She truly wanted to rip her hair out, to crash something, to unload her rage.

"Hey, hey… it'll be all right. We'll find another way," Rebecca got to her and hugged her tightly.

"There's no other way!" Keira sobbed into her jacket. "They'll never come here because to them we're all dead!"

Clark just watched her helplessly. "I'm sorry," was all she could say, her face sad. "I wanted to contact the Arc too. I wanted them to be safe."

"No, we can still do it! We have to!" Monty wasn't giving up. "I'll figure something out! I will!"

Clark just placed her hand on his arm and then walked to the hatch. "I'll tell the rest the news."

And they would love the news, Keira thought bitterly as she finally stopped sobbing, overcome with a strange numbness. She could just sit there with Rebecca, Jasper and Octavia, in some strange kind of a stupor.


	4. Chapter 3

**Part 03**

_Marcus strode out of the Council Room, furious. Why didn't they see the truth? Why didn't they understand what had to be done in order to save the human race? He was thinking when clenching his firsts in anger. He truly wanted to hit something right now. _

_ They all thought he was the bad guy. Well, all but one - _her_. They all thought he enjoyed making those decisions, but the truth was that they were sickening him and the remaining members of the Council were only making it worse. They didn't want to face the truth. They couldn't comprehend that in order to live they had to sacrifice a couple of hundred others. Marcus hated that option too, but it didn't change the fact that it had to be done. With every single passing day more people would have to die in order for the rest to live. The sooner they would make the decision the better. Still, the Council didn't realize how dire the situation truly was. They thought it could be mended, that the process of repairing could be fastened up, but Marcus had deluded himself from false hope years ago. It did no one no good in this place. This living hell. That was exactly what their lives turned out to be, they were only the transition generation, the one that would have to _breed _the people who would finally return to Earth. If such a return would even be possible. And then Abby had come up with an idea to send some prisoners to the ground in order to see if the Earth was habitable again. _

_ Marcus just scowled as he pushed the door to his room open. Wasn't what Abby wanted to do the same what he'd proposed? Either way, they would lose those lives, he was sure of it._

_ He slammed the door soundly, at least able to vent in such a way and then he noticed Keira standing in the middle of the room. He totally forgot that he'd left her here._

_ "What happened?" she asked with care in her voice as he walked past her and sat hard in a chair, sighing deeply. He didn't want her to see him like this. To see him this angry, this… evil? This image was exactly what other people in the Ark saw every day. This face was reserved for them to see that he would not hesitate to do what was necessary. He wasn't a bad guy, but if they needed to blame someone, they could as well blame him. He was used to it. He could live with it._

_ The one thing he couldn't live with was Keira seeing him in the moment of his greatest fury._

_ He didn't answer her. He just hid his face in his hands and breathed the air deeply into his lungs. The air that they needed to safe, he thought bitterly. The air that in a few months could be no more._

_ She didn't leave. He didn't think she would. He knew her all too well by now._

_ "Marcus, talk to me," she said in a soothing voice as she made her way to him and crouched by his sitting posture, her hands took his own from his face and she looked up into his brown eyes. _

_ She was the only civilian who ever called him Marcus. She'd had been calling him by his name from the moment they'd gotten closer. Kane was for enemies and people that either loathe or respect him, most of the times both. He was sometimes Marcus to Jaha, but beside the Chancellor, he was just Kane._

Her _calling him by his name seemed somehow intimate like they were way too close. Like they shouldn't be that close, but he'd never told her to switch back to Kane. He couldn't. Didn't want to._

_He met her worried eyes that were looking up at him so intensely, trying to read him, trying to guess what was the reason of his agitation. Wanting to _help_. _

_ He found himself lost in those beautiful eyes. She made all of his worries go away and he didn't even remember what he'd been angry about. All that mattered was her. His cock twitched, springing to life, surprising him._

_ And then he was grabbing her face and pressing his lips against hers before he even realized what he'd done._

_ There was passion. There was fire. There was caring. Everything that was supposed to be between two people that loved each other. Only in their case it was also everything that _wasn't _supposed to happen._

_ He could feel Keira raising up as she straddled him, his hands going around her waist, holding on to her hips. They kiss was like a lightning strike. There was desire and fever in it. Soon Marcus slid his tongue along Keira's lower lip and she moaned quietly, opening for him, meeting his tongue with her own. She grabbed his face, buried her hands in his hair, pressing against him with her whole body, desperate to feel more of him. And he let her. He wanted to be that close to her, too._

_ It was when she ground herself against him, feeling his hardness through their pants and they both groaned at the sensation and need that he finally woke up._

_ He forced himself to stop, letting his common sense take over. They were both panting as he broke the kiss and put her forehead against hers. He wasn't able to let go of her just yet, but he knew that whatever was happening needed to be stopped. He opened his eyes and met her own, dilated and foggy from desire. _

_ "This can never happen again," he found himself saying in a voice so detached from his usual one that it sounded almost foreign. _

_ Then he gently pushed her away so she stood up and he followed._

_ "Why?" she asked, turning to him as he wanted to get away._

_ "Because you're too young for me!" he yelled when he faced her. The anger was there again, this time because he couldn't get what he wanted. It just wasn't right. He hated his life to be about the right and wrong, but it was what it was._

_ "Age is just a number," Keira persisted when cupping his face and forcing him to look at her. "Look where we are, Marcus! Our population is dying out. There is no right and wrong anymore... Does this feel wrong?" she suddenly asked when caressing his smoothly-shaven cheek with her hand._

_ He closed his eyes in pleasure, nearly getting himself lost in the feelings again. _

_ He couldn't answer her question. He couldn't, because her touch obviously did not feel wrong at all._

_ Only it was wrong._

_ Instead, Marcus just left the room._

* * *

And now she was gone, Marcus thought when waking up from his drunk stupor. It wasn't pleasant at all. His head was pounding, he felt a desperate need for water - a thing that they needed to be careful to safe - and he felt nauseous. A hangover was clearly a truly terrible feeling, he deduced. Still, the physical pain was taking away the emotional one.

Only when this wore off, he would be back at the start. Alone. Hated. Thought of to be a monster.

There had been only one person who believed him to be something more. Something to love and care. And now she was gone.

He grabbed the empty bottle and threw it against the wall. The sound of the glass shattering caused a splitting pain to his head.

If he'd only given in to his true feelings earlier. If he'd only taken her that day they'd kissed for the first time.

Now it didn't matter anymore.

If he'd had, she would've still be dead.

* * *

"We have no time to waste. We need to do it today," Marcus was just saying on another Council meeting. They needed to understand that there was truly no way of surviving without sacrificing others. For a moment there he thought he could be one of them. One of those chosen to die. He would cut his suffering short and be no more. Maybe, just maybe, he could see _her _again, even though he didn't believe in the religious nonsense. This was life. When it ended, there was nothing afterwards. _Nothing_.

Only they still needed him on the Ark. They might hate him and disagree with him, but without him they would be gone. It wasn't that he thought of himself as someone that was above the others, someone they couldn't survive without. He was just the only one in the Council that saw the picture clearly. Without him, they would make the wrong decisions and die as a result.

"What the hell?!" he cursed when all the monitors in the Ark flashed and there was a video showed of Abigail's dead husband, informing the Ark that the life support would soon be over.

"What the hell is she doing?!" Jaha was equally upset.

Yet, hours later they were proven to have underestimated the people of the Ark. They came to them, saying that they would sacrifice themselves for the rest to live. Soon, they had over three hundred people and Jaha actually agreed with Abigail that she was right in telling the truth. That her dead husband had been right. The husband he'd himself executed.

"At least we don't have to make the tough choices," he said when coming closer to Marcus.

"Thelonious, you know that I didn't want any of this. There was just no other choice," Marcus told him.

"I know, Marcus, I know. Don't beat yourself over it," the answer came and the reassuring squeeze of his hand on Kane's shoulder.

* * *

Keira was hopeful. And having hope was a good thing. That way she still had a reason to go on. She could still hope that one day she would see Marcus again.

They'd sent the flares high up into the sky. With a little bit of luck the Ark would see them and they would know that the 100, minus a few people, were still alive. Still waiting for the rest to come down.

"What if it didn't work?" Clarke asked Raven, the newly arrived girl. Most of them were still angry with Bellamy for destroying the radio. Keira was just hurt. But now… maybe now they could…

"I still have a few aces in my sleeve," Raven said in confidence. "I will contact the Ark. It may just not happen as fast as we need it to."

And it didn't. Also, the flares hadn't done their job.

They were all stupefied by the meteor shower they saw on the sky the following night.

"It's not a meteor shower," Clark suddenly said bitterly. "It's a funeral. It didn't work. Happy now?" She turned to Bellamy with venom in her voice. "This one is on you!" She pushed him hard.

Keira could just stand there, feeling the pain. Feeling the pain of Marcus like it could shot down from the sky on her.

She knew what he'd had to do. And she understood it.

She felt sorry for him. For the hatred and loath he was yet to receive from the inhabitants of the Arc. She knew there was no other way, but the people wouldn't see it like that. The people would blame the one who'd given the sentence. In that case it was the whole Council, but Kane was the one that always voted objectively, sometimes to kill, to obey the law. He seemed heartless to the rest.

If only they knew how wrong they truly were. Keira swallowed tears. She just wanted to be right next to him now. To be able to put her arms around him, to let him get it all out, all the guilt and the suffering. Instead, she was down here and he was up there, forced to act like nothing had happened, forced to show strength to the people, not weakness. And he had no one to talk to. No one to make him forget.


	5. Chapter 4

**Part 04**

"And the entry was guarded by human skeletons!" Jasper kept on telling Keira and Rebecca how he and a few of others had saved Octavia from the hands of a grounder.

When he finally finished, he decided to go get some food.

"Wait a sec…" Keira said when studying Rebecca's face. "Hey!"

"What?" Rebecca asked, not really understanding her friend. "What is it?"

"You like him! Admit it! You like Jasper!" Keira squealed, for once happy for the distraction. She was tired of her own tragic love life, so her friend's feelings were a welcomed refreshment.

"No, I am not," Rebecca denied, but she did it all to quickly while her face burnt a bright red.

"You are! Why is that such a bad thing? Jasper is a great guy," Keira noticed.

"He's not the usual type I would go for," Rebecca finally admitted. "He's a little geeky, but then…"

"Hey, I understand it perfectly. He's unusually brave. He's been through so much and yet, he was willing to risk his life again just to save someone."

"Yeah, he's full of surprises, but he's brave only for her. For Octavia," Rebecca said in a gloomy voice. "Don't you see it? He's so in love with her that he was willing to risk another close encounter with the grounders to save her."

"Yes, he did," Keira admitted when thinking it over. "But it doesn't mean anything. Octavia is his romantic ideal, but it's not real. In reality she might like him, but not that special way he would want her to."

"I won't be a second choice," Rebecca spoke. "I just won't. I want… I want something like you have," she finally said from the lack of a better example.

"Oh, trust me, you don't…" Keira sighed heavily.

"Why won't _you _trust me and tell me who he is."

"It's not that I'm not telling you because I want to keep it for myself. I'm doing it for your own safety. For my and his safety. Sharing dangerous information can have a bad outcome. Besides, now you're just trying to change the topic! Octavia shouldn't be an obstacle."

"But I want to be chosen," Rebecca suddenly confessed. "I want the guy to notice me, I want _him _to make me fall in love with him. I want someone like Jasper, someone who would do for me what he's doing for her," she said bitterly and hugged herself. "Besides, you saw what I did when he was dying. I was egoistical. I couldn't stay and keep watching him suffering and screaming like that. I needed to get away. I wasn't there when he truly needed someone. Octavia was."

"Don't beat yourself over it," Keira said in a soothing voice when placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I might be there, but I was there for purely selfish reasons. I wanted to do something, anything, to keep myself busy so I wouldn't have to brood."

"But what if Jasper was that guy you love? What if he was here and dying?" Rebecca asked the perfect question.

"Well, yeah," Keira admitted, wincing at the image her mind produced. "I wouldn't leave his side no matter what. Yet, the difference is that you didn't feel for Jasper back then. You didn't love him."

"Hey!" Rebecca suddenly scolded her. "Who says anything about love?! I might like the guy, but I am _not _in love with him!" she denied.

"All right," Keira agreed. "Don't get so mad at me."

"Besides, I told you how it's supposed to be."

"The thing is that it's never how it's supposed to happen," Keira said wistfully. "Trust me, I know. But once it actually happens, once you find that person… it might be actually better, special. I can't really explain it."

"You know, I really wish for you, whoever that guys is, that he just came here."

"Thanks," Keira sent Rebecca a faint smile.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the camp and Bellamy entered, hauling an unconscious grounder along.

"What the hell?" Rebecca stood up to see better. "Oh my god!"

"What?" Keira followed her.

"No!" they heard Octavia running out of the ship to get to them. "I told you! He saved me! You can't just kidnap him! Bellamy, please!"

Only her brother was unyielding. He wouldn't listen.

"We need him to tell us what the grounders are up to!" he screamed back at her.

"No! You'll torture him! And then, what?! You'll kill him! This is not who we are, Bellamy! He saved my life! He doesn't deserve this!"

"He might've saved you, but he still locked you up in a cave! He killed two of our people and stabbed Finn with the knife! He's fighting for his life right now!"

"Ok, I didn't see that coming," Rebecca said.

"This is not good," Keira added and they both made their way to the center of the camp.

"Do you mind?!" Clarke walked out of the ship. "I'm trying to save Finn!"

"Then do it!"

In that moment a lightening strike cut the horizon.

"All better come inside!" Bellamy yelled. "There's a storm coming!"

He, with the help of Jasper and a few others, brought the grounder inside and upstairs, then locked the hatch. The rest of the 100 got inside, only to witness something remarkable.

"Clarke?! Clarke, are you there?!" was coming from the radio that Raven must've assembled.

Keira just stilled, her hands wandering up to cover her mouth, eyes widely opened.

"Did you… did you contact the Ark?!" she exclaimed and then ran toward Clarke when the initial shock wore off.

"Yes, we did!" Raven stood in her way. "And I understand this is exciting news, but for now, we need to safe Finn. Then we can talk to them, all right?"

Keira just nodded, tears in her eyes. She understood that saving a life was more important right now than her talking to Marcus. Finn could die if Clarke didn't get the necessary instructions from her mother of how to help him. And there was a storm that kept interrupting the connection. Not the best way to perform this operation.

Rebecca just grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her toward the corner of the room where they sat down.

"We're saved," Keira said in a whisper. "They know we're all right. They can come down here." She was truly crying, pressing her hands to her face to stifle it.

"Yes, they can, girl. They so can," Rebecca said when putting her arm around Keira and smiling. She was happy for her friend.

* * *

_The insistent knocking on his door did not stop and then she yelled, "I know you're in there! Open up! We _need _to talk!"_

_ He finally jumped to his feet and did what she asked him to._

_ "Are you fucking crazy?!" he burst at her when she was safely inside and the door closed. "They might hear you! What if they see how close we are?! You can't just stand by my door and scream at me!"_

_ "How close we are?!" she parroted him in fury. "We aren't and that's the problem!" she yelled when throwing her hands up into the air. "Don't look at me like that, Marcus! We kiss, then you don't speak to me for an entire week and when you finally do, opps!, we kiss again and then you push me _again_ and then you give me the silent treatment _AGAIN_!" she stopped screaming, breathing the air rapidly into her lungs, in the same time knowing she shouldn't work herself up like this. They needed to safe the air._

_ "What do you want me to say?" Marcus asked in a much quieter voice now. They stood facing each other. "I can't give you what you want. We'll get in trouble." _

_ "We haven't so far and we've been friends for weeks. You're just scared you'll lose your precious seat at the Council, aren't you?" she fought back. "If they find out we're intimate, they'll degrade you!"_

_ "Do you really think this has any meaning to me right now? It did, but it was before you came into my life. Keira," he made a step closer toward her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "I'm afraid for you. If they find out, you'll get to prison and then you'll get floated and there won't be anything I would be able to do to stop it. I just can't let that happen. I can't lose you," he confessed when looking into her eyes._

_ "We've been seeing each other for weeks now, Marcus," she repeated stubbornly. "If they were to find out, they would've already. It doesn't matter that we're not actually together. It looks how it looks."_

_ He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, knowing she was right._

_ "I don't… I don't know what to do anymore…" he said when turning around and running his hands through his hair in desperation. "I can't… I can't stop thinking about you, dreaming about you… Every moment of every day I just want to touch you and be close to you," he finally confessed, but did not dare to look at her just yet. "Maybe it would be better if we stopped seeing each other altogether."_

_ "How?" she asked the perfect question when circling him and forcing him to face her again. "It's unavoidable that we cross paths in this place."_

_ "What do you want me to do?" he just asked her helplessly._

_ "I want you. I need you," she told him, her voice intense. "It's you and no one else, Marcus. Take it or leave it," she provoked him._

_ They just stood there, challenging each other with their eyes._

_ The only reason to why he was holding back was her young age. Such relationships might've happened on the Earth before the War, but now, on the Ark… this just didn't seem right. They weren't as many people to develop this kind of a bond. _

_ "I know you want to. You just said so," Keira continued when cupping his face and meeting his brown eyes. "And I want you. I don't care about anything else. Besides, soon I'll be eighteen and then legally there's nothing that can stop us."_

_ "You want to go public, don't you?" he asked with another sigh. "They'll hate me."_

_ "They already hate you, Marcus. You and I both know the law. There is no official rule about relationships. I just need to be an adult and I will be. Very son."_

_ He groaned out of his own helplessness and finally pulled her closer so he could kiss her. He couldn't seem to exist without her. This love was like a bug, a fever. Delirium, he thought. And it felt amazing whereas it felt horrible when they were apart. The only way for them was to be together. He was done reasoning about this. For once in his life he could do something crazy. Something just for him._

_ He was all over her, his hands touching her, wandering over her still clothed body, his breath hot on her skin as his lips descended to her neck to suck on the pulse there. She moaned and her hands pressed his head even closer to her. She was breathing him in. She could feel the aftershave he was wearing and something different, something that belonged only to his skin. _

_ It'd been a while since Marcus had had sex. He'd stopped bothering when all that was left afterward was emptiness. Now, finally, it was replaced by something better. By something powerful. She was filling him in. She was home._

_ They stumbled toward the bed and he sat down on it whereas she straddled him, grazing herself against him, feeling his hardness through his pants and she wasn't shy about it at all._

_ "You like to be on top, don't you?" he suddenly asked with his lips back against her own. The first time they'd kissed she'd been straddling him too._

_ "What, are you afraid of a woman on top?" she teased him when kissing his neck, feeling his raging pulse there._

_ "Not even slightly. Quite the contrary," he answered when chuckling. "Wait… have you…?" his voice trailed off significantly. She didn't seem to be shy, but still, he couldn't just assume she'd done this before._

_ "No," she answered honestly and it both came as a relief and worry to him. _

_ "Are you sure you want _me_ to…" he started and stopped when pulling away just a little to be able to look at her. "I'm not young."_

_ "None of us is young in these times," she just said when placing her hands on both sides of his face. _

_ He didn't argue anymore and she was glad about it. Instead, he pulled on her shirt and took it off, leaving her only in a bra. He dived in and started kissing the moulds of her breasts. She was distracted, but she still managed to take his shirt off as well, forcing him to stop kissing her for a moment so she could get it over his head. _

_ "You don't look like an old man," she said when seeing his chest for the first time and running her hands over it. _

_ He only smiled to her and kissed her again, this time slow, lovingly, trying to pull all his feelings into that kiss. Somehow he couldn't tell her that he loved her just yet. It would seem way too real once he did. He decided to show her that love instead. _

_ He reached behind her back and unclasped her bra, revealing her medium size breasts to his eyes._

_ Before she noticed, she turned her around and placed on the bed. _

_ She didn't protest when he undid her jeans and took them off, along with her shoes as she was only in her panties now._

_ "You're so beautiful," he said when standing up and slowly taking the remains of his own clothing._

_ Soon his cock was freed and stood prominently._

_ She just looked at him silently, not giving away anything._

_ He sat back on the edge of the bed and asked, "Are you ok? Do you really want this?" he made sure._

_ "Oh, yes, I am sure and I do want this," she said, understanding that he needed to hear it. Then she tentatively reached out and touched him, stroking him gently. He closed his eyes and sighed in pleasure._

_ "Stop or I'll lose it," he warned her after a minute or so. Normally, he wouldn't be affected so much by a touch of a woman, but she wasn't just any woman. It was _her_._

_ When she let go off him, he slowly shifted and now was hovering above her, kissing her slowly again, dipping his tongue just right into her mouth and meeting her own. His hands were stroking her hips, her breasts, then got dangerously close to her thighs only to finally really touch her when pushing the panties away. They fumbled for a moment until they were off and his body coverer hers again._

_ She wiggled and moaned in pleasure as he began stroking he intimately and as his face descended and his lips now closed over one of her nipple, sucking on it._

_ "Oh, yes… Marcus…" she moaned his name and that was enough for him to simply feel that he _needed _to be inside her _now_._

_ "Tell me if you're uncomfortable and I'll stop," he told her before he lined up his cock to her entrance. He wasn't sure if he would be able to stop, but he needed to say that. She needed to feel safe. He hadn't realized yet that she always felt that in his presence._

_ She gasped when feeling the head of his cock going inside her and he gently pushed into the sweet and tight wetness. When he went further in, she winced a little, but she didn't say anything so he proceeded. _

_ Soon, the worst part was over and he was seethed fully within her, his self-control hanging on a thread._

_ "I want you to move," she said when he didn't and she cupped his face, forcing him to look into her eyes. He saw nothing but love in there. If she was in a slight pain, it was receding and she needed to love him more than she needed to avoid a little discomfort. She seemed to want him completely and it amazed him and baffled completely. He couldn't truly name what he felt inside at that moment. Everything was melting away, all the ruthlessness, all the tightness, all the anger and loneliness. Everything that he'd closed himself for before because it'd been much for him to bear everyone hating him so passionately._

_ He didn't even know when he started making love to her, but he was already thrusting inside her and she was meeting this thrusts with equal enthusiasm. He couldn't comprehend what she was doing to his soul at this moment, but he didn't care. He just wanted her. He wanted to be the man worthy of her love._

_ He felt her tighten around him, her back arched as she came powerfully and he followed her soon after, couldn't stop._

_ Afterwards, they just lay like that, in each other's arms, his cock though soft now, still buried inside her._

_ Finally, Marcus gathered enough strength to roll over and she immediately snuggled into his chest._

_ "I want you to know that there's no coming back from here," she said._

_ He didn't say anything to that. He knew she was right. Even if he still thought what they were doing was wrong, he would never be able to hurt her now by pushing her away. Not after what had happened between them._

_ She accepted his silence and for a moment she was tracing symbol with her fingers on his chest. Then she looked out the window. The Earth was visible, floating in the background. A big blue, white and green globe she would probably never get to see._

_ "Do you think we'll ever go back there?" she asked him._

_ "I don't," he said. "At least not us." He never deluded himself with false hope and that would never change._

_ "It must've been so beautiful out there. All those trees and water and air," she just sighed when settling herself more comfortable on his chest. He just kissed her head with affection and they fell asleep._

* * *

_Be careful what you wish for, _Marcus thought ironically at the recollection of his and Keira's first time together. Now she was on Earth, where she'd always wanted to go. And he was out here, on the Ark. And they were separated forever.

Today's Council's meeting was all about Abigail Griffin who so recklessly released her dead husband's video, informing the people of the Ark that they would soon have to die because of the oxygen deprivation. It'd actually turned out for the best since they hadn't needed to make the tough decision of which people sent to die. The people had decided to make the sacrifice themselves.

Yet, the needed to be a punishment and as Abigail was needed as a doctor, she didn't get floated, instead she just lost her Council seat.

In that very moment they heard some strange noises like from radio interference.

They could only make out words like "Ark", "contact" and "help", but once they all got to the control room, Sinclair boosted the signal.

"Calling the Ark," Raven's voice sounded, the girl that Abby had sent to the ground. "I'm on Earth with the 100. They're alive. We need help."

Marcus stopped, completely stupefied. Luckily for him, no one paid any attention to him as they were all focused on the radio.

Then there was silence and another voice spoke, "Mom?"

"Clarke!" Abby exclaimed. "Oh my god! Are you ok?!"

"Yes. The Earth is survivable. We're here and we're ok!"

Suddenly, this was too much to take for Kane. He left the room. Still, no one noticed that. As he found himself in an empty corridor he leaned against a wall and sobbed desperately into his hand.

Keira was alive.

The Earth was survivable.

He could get to her.

They still had a chance.

* * *

**AN: **I'm not exactly sure why the 100 keep having sex when not being afraid of unwanted pregnancy. Is there some innovative birth control after so many years into the future? I'm not even trying to explain it since the show didn't bother.

Although, for the sake of the story, I will probably go with a shot that can lasts a year or so.


	6. Chapter 5

**Part 05**

_She screamed his name when she came, Marcus had her against the window and was fucking her from behind as they were facing the Earth floating in the distance. He knew they would enjoy it here, being separated from the open space only by a thick glass enchanted their sensations._

_ "That was… amazing," Keira panted hard against the already steamy window. _

_ "Oh, yeas," Marcs agreed, not really being able to utter anything else at the moment._

_ She managed to turn and put her arms around him. He didn't mind the closeness and intimacy after sex. He knew she needed it as he was all she'd ever truly had._

_ "Can I use your shower again?" she asked and he nearly chuckled into her ear._

_ "Of course, but I didn't take you for the modest one."_

_ "I might not be modest around you, but you know me and you've seen me naked. Taking a shower in a room full of strangers, even if they're only women, isn't my favorite part of the day."_

_ "Of course, it's not. This is," Marcus teased when finally releasing her from his arms. Now he was the one to hold on to her longer._

_ "I just wish we could shower together," Keira voiced her mind._

_ "Me, too, but unfortunately, that would take too much time and waste too much of the precious water," Marcus said._

_ "Yeah, I get that. When Earth was habitable, people must have real fun in the showers."_

_ Marcus just smiled at her as he saw her disappearing in his small bathroom._

* * *

"Three. Hundred. Twenty. People." Marcus said like the words were separate sentences.

He didn't really know what to do with himself when Sinclair was just working on restoring the temporary broken connection with the 100. There was a storm raging over their camp at the moment.

Kane knew he would be able to talk to Keira soon and he should feel exhilarated, but instead he was just scared. He felt guilty and he'd never felt it strongly in his entire life. He'd done this, he'd killed all those people. He'd been the one to push when Abigail had insisted to wait until they have heard from Raven.

"You didn't make that decision alone," Jaha told him.

"Maybe not, but I pushed… I was so sure. And now they're all dead," Marcus confessed. "I was wrong."

"They didn't die in vain," Thelonious assured him. "They bought us time we need to get down to Earth."

"Has Sinclair restored the connection?" Marcus just asked, needing something else to focus on.

"He should by now. Why?"

"I need to talk to someone," Jaha received in answer and watched in astonishment as Marcus made his way to the door.

* * *

"Keira?" Clarke asked when getting out of the drop ship. "Keira?!" she called her name louder.

Keira slowly raised herself from the ground on which she sat in the company of Rebecca. Ever since she'd heard they'd managed to contact the Earth she couldn't wait until it would be her turn to talk to someone. She was so sure that he would be there, wanting to see her immediately. Then a few other kids had been called and Keira kind of felt let down by it. Now, when it finally happened, she couldn't seem to move.

"Here," she finally said in a feeble voice as she stood.

"Councilor Kane wants to speak to you," Clarke said with a strange expression on her face like she still had troubles believing that it could be Marcus Kane that Keira was in love with.

"Oh, she's in trouble!" someone called out of the crowd.

"Makes you wonder what was so bad that she's talked to by the Council!"

Everyone thought so. Everyone except a few people that included Clarke, shocked Rebecca and Finn.

Keira could hear a very loud gasp coming from her friend's side, but she ignored it and started walking toward the drop ship on wobbly feet. She would soon talk to Marcus. She would _see _him. She… She felt both exhilarated and scared. Here it was the moment she'd been waiting for for so long and she was terrified out of her mind!

"You're full of surprises, girl!" she heard Rebecca calling after her, but she barely heard her, suddenly feeling less lightheaded and she fastened up, running to the ship, toward the smiling Clarke.

Because Marcus was on the other side! Marcus was waiting to talk to her! She had no reason to be scared anymore. She was finally safe. And they were both alive.

"Go! Run to your dark prince!" Rebecca added when seeing the hurry Keira was in. That caused the camp to go silent and then they all started talking at once. Keira didn't care though.

"I'll give you two some privacy," Clarke said to her when placing a hand on her shoulder and then she walked out of the ship.

Marcus, who was waiting on the other side, was wondering what was taking Keira so long. His hands were shaky. In fact, he'd been shaking all over when he'd come to the room and asked to speak to one of the 100. They'd been all surprised, but hadn't refused. Now he was all alone, with earphones on his ears and a screen settled on the table in front of him. There was also a camera. This would go both ways. He would talk and see _her_ and she would talk to him and see him, too.

Finally, the image on the screen shifted and suddenly, he was face to face with the woman he loved more than life itself.

They could just stare at each other, not able to speak just yet. Keira's eyes got glassy when she spotted the familiar face on the screen, face that belonged to the man she loved so dearly and wanted him with her so badly.

For a moment there, their eyes and gestures were enough. The understood each other perfectly. Then Marcus reached out his hand and traced Keira's features on the screen.

"You're alive," he finally spoke and his voice broke. He was glad that there was no one in the room but him. This would be embarrassing otherwise.

"Yes," she answered in a squeaky voice, almost crying. Her hand covered her mouth like she wanted to muffle the sobbing.

"Keira, I… I'm so sorry…" he suddenly said. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I didn't know. I…"

"I never thought you could have anything to do with this. Don't worry," she assured him, overcome by so many feelings and emotions at once that she couldn't make them all out. She could just sit there and stare at Marcus in a daze.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" he asked.

"I'm fine and I'm healthy. Don't worry."

"I… We don't have much time," he said. "There are others wanting to talk to their kids."

"I'm not your kid," she huffed in a sudden indignation and he laughed at the sight of her familiar angriness.

"I know, but the rest are someone's children… Keira," he started again after a few seconds of silence. "I… I did something really bad." If he could talk to someone about this honestly, it was her, not Jaha.

"I saw what happened," she admitted, "but I don't blame you. You're not the only one in the Council, Marcus. Besides, if you need to blame someone, blame one of us, one of the 100. He destroyed the radio Raven brought with herself, so we couldn't contact the Ark sooner. Marcus, it's really not your fault… Tell me how you've been?"

"I'm fine now and that what matters… Keira," he added after a few another seconds of heavy silence. They might not be talking all the time, but they understood everything perfectly. All they needed to say to each other was in their eyes. "I want you to know… I… I love you," he finally confessed for the very first time, tears shining in his eyes. "I love you! I know I should've told you that earlier. I should've been telling you this every day till I still could. I was just scared of what we had. A secretive and unspoken relationship seemed to be easier."

"I know," she assured him when crying. "I always knew you loved me. I saw it in your eyes and the ways you were with me. I love you, too. Please, Marcus, just come to me."

"I will, baby," he swore. "I will be on the first drop ship to Earth, I promise. I'll make my way back to you. Just wait for me."

What she felt only increased now. She couldn't deal with those feelings anymore. She would have him back. She would be held in his arms again. She would be kissed by him. And this time they would do it right.

This time he would show her how much he loved her. He would show her how appreciated she was by him, he was just thinking. He still had troubles believing that she could love someone like him, but she did. And she deserved to be loved back just as strongly, if not stronger. She would be loved every minute of her existence. He just needed to make it to the ground.

There was a knocking at the door and Sinclair stuck his head in.

"I'm sorry, Counselor, but your time is up. There are people in line here."

Marcus nodded when not even looking at the man. He didn't want Sinclair to see his tears.

"Keira, baby, I need to go now, but I promise you, I will see you again. This time on the ground," he solemnly swore one more time.

She just nodded, unable to say another word.

"I love you," he said when kissing his hand and placing it on her face on the screen.

"I love you too," her lips moved, but he didn't hear her saying it. She seemed to lost her voice.

Marcus gave himself a few seconds to pull himself back together and then he stood up. And faced Jaha who was standing in the door, watching him.

"You know what?" Thelonious just said. "I won't even comment it. It's the least of our problems in such times… Still," he started like he couldn't stop himself. "A minor, Kane? Really? And this coming from _you_, a person who always abides the law and is willing to sentence another to death for breaking it even slightly?!"

"She's not a minor anymore," Marcus just said, suddenly not caring about anything anymore. He could as well lost his Council seat. He couldn't care less. She was alive and he would get to her, that was all that mattered.

"Jesus!" Jaha raised his voice and rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this!" Then he just left.

Marcus left the room as well, pretending not to notice the hateful looks people waiting in line were giving him. Especially those from his fellow Counselors.

* * *

"So it is Kane. Damn girl, you know how to pick 'em!" Rebecca said when Keira came back, suddenly being at the centre of attention. "Are you ok?" her friend asked when seeing her blotchy face. "He didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"

"No, quite the opposite," Keira answered when sitting down. "I was just crying because I…"

"Because you love him," Rebecca nodded. "So, how is he?"

"He's coming on the first drop ship. He's coming for me."

"That's awesome. Maybe not for the rest of us as there'll be law to abide again, but for you… yeah, I'm happy for you. Even when you basically scared the shit out of me. I would've never guessed it was Kane!"

"Kane's not that bad," Jasper spoke when coming to them. "It's Jaha who's worse. He's the one to have the final say in everything, isn't he? He made all the calls to float people."

"You know, maybe you're just right," Rebecca agreed, thinking over Jasper's words.

"You want some food, girls? I was just going to get some for myself."

"Thanks, Jasper, sure," Keira sent him a smile and once he was gone, she turned back to Rebecca, "You know that the Octavia-Jasper thing won't happen for sure now, don't you?"

"What are you… Oh," Rebecca actually blushed. "Please, don't go there."

"Hey, you know my darkest secret, now it's my turn. I know you more than like Jasper."

"The difference is that your darkest secret is out there for everyone to know. Mine doesn't have to be… Not that I have one…" she tangled herself when seeing the look of triumph on Keira's face.

"I just want to tell you that Jasper knows Octavia's in love with Lincoln and he's getting over her. I think he likes you a little bit too much. Think of it and give it a chance."


	7. Chapter 6

**Part 06**

For a moment there, Marcus was able to push his own guilt aside and just enjoy the simple fact that he would soon be reunited with his love. For a moment there, he had hope.

This time he welcomed the memories, that were rushing into his head, happily. They weren't causing him pain anymore. They were causing him joy, because soon enough, he would be able to make new ones.

He remembered one particular day when chocolate pudding had been served and they'd saved theirs, having fun back in his room when eating it out off each other's bodies. His face had been somber afterwards and he'd once again said, "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Does this feel wrong?" she'd asked again, proving to him that it hadn't.

It still didn't. Even with their secret out in the open, Marcus decided. He couldn't care less what Chancellor thought. Marcus was soon going back home and only that mattered to him.

He remembered the first time Keira had given him a blow job and he'd enjoyed it so much that he'd needed to ask how she'd learnt it.

"The girls in the bathroom are always talking," she'd just shrugged.

Marcus smiled when coming to the window and looking down on Earth.

"Soon, my love. May we see again. Soon," he said.

* * *

"To be honest," Rebecca said, "I would never think that Councilor Kane's capable of feelings. Especially such strong feelings."

Now that everybody knew about Keira's secret, there really was no point in hiding the details from her friend. Besides, she finally could talk to somebody and lay it all out in the open. It felt good.

"People are full of surprises," Keira just said to that. "You never really know them until you get closer to them."

"I guess so," Rebecca admitted.

"Now I have to wait. And I hate waiting," Keira complained and her friend laughed.

* * *

Marcus was shivering. He was so cold. He would probably soon freeze to death.

He still had troubles believing that a bomb had actually exploded on the Ark. That one of them, a woman that freshly joined the Council, could do that. Sacrificed so many lives, completely in vein, in order to get to the drop ship. It was true that there wasn't enough for all of them to make it to the ground, but Jaha wouldn't give up. He would figure it out, Kane was sure of it. Sinclair and his people would figure it out. It couldn't just end like this.

Yet now, Marcus was locked in a prison cell and the power was cut off from this part of the Ark, so he would freeze to death.

Then the door opened and he couldn't be more grateful to whoever came to save him.

It was Jaha.

"She's taking the exit of the ship," he understood as Kane told him what had happened exactly.

Just like that, Diana Sydney flew away, crippling the Ark completely.

* * *

"Look!" Rebecca pointed the sky when they saw what at first looked like a falling star, but then it became clearer to them that it was the first drop ship.

Keira jumped to her feet and watched as it was falling. Flying back home.

A huge happy smile crossed her face as she looked up, not wanting to take her eyes of the ship in which she was sure was Marcus. Marcus coming to her. Coming home to Earth.

"Something's wrong," someone said. "Why aren't they slowing down? Where are the parachutes?"

And just like that, they didn't slow down at all. Just like that, the ship crashed and there was a huge explosion.

Keira gasped, her mouth hanging open, shock on her face. Denial. Then a pang of pain. Then a crash in her heart.

She opened her mouth again, trying to say something, anything, but nothing came out.

"Oh my god," Rebecca said when standing right by her side. "Oh my god!"

Keira lost her balance and if it wasn't for Rebecca, she would've fallen down.

"Keira!... Keira!" Rebecca forced her friend to look at her as she supported her. "Hey! Pull yourself together! You can't know that he was on the ship! He might still be alive. There was something wrong with this drop since the moment we saw it falling. Maybe it's just…"

"Just what?" Keira finally spoke, her voice bitter and full of pain. "Detached itself from the Ark? And fell _exactly _where it supposed to in order for us to see? I don't think so!"

"You can't know for sure that he's dead," Rebecca just repeated stubbornly, desperate to make her friend feel better. Only she didn't know if she should. If giving her the false hope would be beneficial. Maybe Marcus had really been on that ship.

"But he promised," Keira said. "He promised he'd be the first one to come. He was coming for me. And now he's… now he is _dead_," the word sounded so foreign as she spoke it that she didn't even understand its meaning anymore. "It's the end of the story," she added and finally stood all by herself. She directed herself toward her tent and once she was inside, all alone, she dropped to the floor on her blanket and cried and sobbed. It felt like she was crying her heart out, like it could come loose in her chest and then leave her through the tears. Everything ached. Nothing mattered anymore. She could as well die. Maybe she would do just that. If the grounders ever came, she would help the 100 fight. And she would die for them.

* * *

Marcus woke up to an unbearable heat and stuffiness. He felt a warm waft of air coming from the air duck and he got closer to take a few deep breaths. It was still hot. It still burnt his lungs, but at least it was air. At least he could breathe.

* * *

Three hundred and twenty people had already died because of him and he promised himself that not even one would be added to that count. That was why he was doing everything in his power to save everyone he could. That was why he risked his life to do so.

And now he was with them and Jaha in the control room, trying to figure out a way for them to survive.

"In fifty one hours the life on the Ark will no longer be possible," Jaha finally said when giving a speech full of hope that the 100 on the ground would carry on their legacy.

And she was one of them whereas he was here. Trapped. Not able to come back to her.

And she thought he was dead and that was the thought that was killing him the most.

He _needed _to make her realize he wasn't dead. That he still hadn't given up.

And then, when he finally did and almost resulted himself to dying, to letting her believe he was no more, he heard Jaha running into the room.

"We're going home," he decided.

"But we don't have any drop ships," Marcus pointed out, at this moment tired of starting to have hope again only for it to be squashed.

"But we do. There's one we didn't think of. The Ark."

They were all silent, thinking over those words, realizing the impossible that slowly became possible.

"Are we really going to do this?" Marcus gasped as the hope, although unwelcomed, crept its way back to his heart. "Bring the Ark to the ground?"

"You have a better idea?"

* * *

"Hey! Keira!" A boy, she thought his name was Malcolm, but she wasn't sure, sat by her side.

She'd been there in unchanged position for hours now, choosing numbness over pain.

"I was thinking… now that they're all dead on the Ark, maybe you and I could… you know, go to my tent and…" his hand rested on her knee.

"Get off me," she said harshly when pushing him away.

"Oh, come on!" he got closer. "Let's make each other feel better. Have you ever been with a _young_ guy for a change?"

"Get off me!" Keira screamed this time, a little bit too loudly, but she was beyond hurt. Both by the boy's words and by what had happened earlier. Maybe it was a good thing that she did yell, because Bellamy suddenly got to them and grabbed the boy.

"She said to leave her alone! What the hell is wrong with you?!" he screamed at Malcolm and the boy retreated. "No one can touch her unless she wants it, got it?!" he turned to the rest that were by now watching the scene. "Now come back to what you were doing!" Bellamy sat down by Keira's side. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"No," the answer came. "Thank you," she added after a moment of silence. "For saving me."

"No problem. If you ever need anything, just say so… I'm…" he added and hesitated. "I'm sorry for Kane," he finally said it. "I know how it is to lose someone, so I am truly sorry."

"Thank you," she repeated and this time she managed to look at him and sent him a faint smile, although it didn't reach her eyes.

He covered her hand with his and squeezed gently. He could feel that she wanted to be alone, so he retreated.


	8. Chapter 7

**Part 07**

"Bellamy told me what happened," Clarke said when going to Keira as she was taking a walk. "I'm sorry. I'm just happy that he was there to stop Malcolm.

_So I was right about the name_, Keira thought but didn't say anything. Recently she didn't know what the point was, really. What was the point of talking? Or making friends? Of eating? Of breathing even? What was the point of life when you lost all that was dear to you?

Clarke didn't seem to be discouraged by her silence and she went on, confessing, "My mom was on the ship."

That finally stirred Keira and she said with honestly, "I'm sorry."

"And I am sorry for your lost, too. You know, maybe it's not a comfort at all, but… at least you got some closure. I didn't talk to my mom and now… now she's just gone and I'll never have another chance. She's the reason my father got floated and I saw it happen."

"Oh, that must've been so hard on you, Clarke, " Keira actually looked at the blonde now. "I'm truly sorry."

"I never gave her a chance to explain," Clarke went on. "I was too busy hating her and now… now I just wish I did talk to her, let her explain, tell her side of the story. All I have left is regret."

Clarke had tears in her eyes now and Keira gave her a hug.

"I was being either left alone or betrayed all my life, so I kind of know how you feel," she admitted.

"I knew I should talk to you," Clarke admitted when letting Keira go. "Because we both lost so much in that accident."

"Did Raven find out what happened yet?" Keira asked. She both did and didn't want to know. All that mattered to her was the fact that Marcus didn't suffer. Judging from the crash, he'd died instantly.

"No. We couldn't make out anything from the black box."

"I wish I could bury him. I wish I could know where he was. I would like a grave that I could go to and talk to. Maybe it sounds silly, but…" Keira started when putting her arms around herself.

"No, it doesn't," Clarke assured her. "I understand. It's what people used to do when they lived here, on the ground. They buried their loved ones. When my father died I wanted him to have a grave, but of course, that wasn't possible."

"You know what the funny thing is?" Keira asked, nearly in a bitter voice. "When I saw what happened I was devastated and I was hurting, but now… It's silly, but I feel like he wasn't really dead. Like he was still alive, still able to get back to me. I know it's pointless since he _was _on that ship. He wouldn't break a promise to me. It's just… maybe I'm in denial," she sighed.

"Maybe. Everyone grieves differently."

* * *

Marcus wasn't near death. Or maybe he was. He didn't know anymore.

One moment he was sitting in one of the part of the Ark, waiting for the take off and in the next nothing happened.

"It needs to be done manually," Sinclair informed. "Someone has to stay behind."

He seemed like an obvious choice. Like there wasn't really a decision to be made. He didn't deserve to be happy. He deserved to die for everything he'd done. For everyone he'd hurt or killed. Even if he hadn't done it with his own hands, there was still blood on them.

Keira deserved to be happy, yes, but maybe she would be better off without him. Maybe she could find another boy, somebody young, somebody good. Maybe that would be for the best. Maybe they'd meant to be separated in order for her to get the happiness she deserved.

With the decision made he raised himself up and decided to stay behind. He vaguely heard that he would be able to survive on the Ark for the next two weeks. He would be the only one left. He would sooner float himself than stay alive that long and that lonely. Or maybe he deserved that, too. As penance.

At least Keira knew he loved her. At least she could be proud of him to sacrifice his life to save so many. They would tell her, he was sure of it. He'd already told her all she needed to know and he could die now. Maybe he meant to.

Or maybe not.

Suddenly, the ship shook and just like that, it detached, falling down.

"Somebody already did it!" Marcus could hear Sinclair.

"Thelonious, where are you?" Abby asked into her earpiece.

Jaha stayed behind, Marcus realized. It did make sense. It didn't surprise him at all. Jaha had wanted to die along with the sacrificed three hundred and twenty, but Marcus himself had changed his mind. And he had been right. People had needed Thelonious as a leader then. Now, he finally got what he'd wanted. He could stay behind. He could die to join his son in whatever the dimension afterwards he believed in.

And he, Marcus, would see _her_ again.

There was a strong possibility that the ship would explode when entering the Earth atmosphere, but somehow Kane wasn't scared about that. He hadn't made it that far to just die now. He had a strong belief that the ship he and Abby along with Sinclair and some other people were on, would get to Earth safely.

He would be able to keep his promise. He would be able to see _her_.

* * *

With Keira wanting to be rather alone than in company, Rebecca started spending a lot of time with Jasper. Not that she didn't enjoy it, but she was worried about her friend.

"Just give her time," Clarke suggested. "She'll come around."

"Oh, screw that. When you're hurting, you can't be alone. Period." She was about to catch up with Keira that was clearly trying to get out on one of her recently usual walks. Rebecca suspected that her friend was deliberately trying to get in the hands of the grounders. Or she just wasn't being careful enough for that matter. Maybe she just didn't give a damn anymore.

"Keira! Wait up!... What's that?!" Rebecca came to a sudden stop and pointed the sky. It looked like a whole rain of meteors.

"It's…" they heard Clarke gasping, "it's the Ark!"

Keira came to a sudden stop and looked up, also watching those fiery pieces falling. Some burnt in the atmosphere completely and were gone before they even hit the ground, but one seemed to have made the journey.

"You don't think there are people in there, do you?" Bellamy asked Clarke when getting to her.

"I don't know. It seems impossible, but… we're here, aren't we? And we're not sick. We need to go there and check it up! Gather some people and let's go!"

Keira was still staring at the sky. She knew she didn't really have a reason to go with Clarke and Bellamy, but there was a strange pull inside her to do just that. She felt like she needed to go there. Certainly, doing it would be something new to focus on. She couldn't quite explain the strange feeling she had, but she _needed _to go.

"I'm coming with!" she yelled to Clarke and the blonde just nodded in response.

* * *

"Thelonious, it's so amazing!" Abby was talking to her friend.

When Marcus climbed up the hatch and took his very first breath of real, fresh air, he was truly in awe. He barely even heard Abby's words describing the Earth that were directed to Jaha. He was too busy breathing, too busy with watching the land around him. The land that was so green and so beautiful. It was truly everything Keira had ever dreamt of when thinking about the Earth. And the water seemed to be so fresh and cooling. The Sun was blinding him, but he didn't mind. He was done living in the darkness that was the Ark. He was ready to finally start living with all he could. Like Jaha would say: he needed to live for all those people that had died in order for the rest to get so far. In order for the rest to get back down on the ground.

"Marcus," he suddenly heard Thelonious's voice, "find your girl and love her for all that died for their loves ones. There is no right and wrong anymore. If you survived, you made it for a reason. You two can be the lucky ones. And Abby…" he directed himself back to his friend, "love Clarke twice as much for me, because I would've loved my son so much more and I would've showed it to him if he'd only survived. I would've done a lot of things differently and then he wouldn't have to hate me. Make peace with your daughter."

Marcus's eyes rested on the shore as they'd landed in a lake. And then he gasped.

Because she was _there_, looking at him with equally amazed eyes. Eyes that didn't want to believe what they were seeing.

"What happened?" Jaha asked.

"It looks like she's here, Thelonious," Abby informed. "That girl, Keira. Marcus's girl!"

"Good, good… Now go and have a life. I will drink to that!"


	9. Chapter 8

**Part 08**

They finally came out of the woods into a small beach that preceded into the lake. Into the lake in which a part of the ship landed. Clarke truly had no other word for that, but a part. She must've been right when she'd said that the Ark had been dropped. Still, she quickly forgot all about that when she saw the two figures standing on top of that ship. It was her… It was impossible, yet, it was happening. Not only Marcus Kane came on that last drop, her mother was there, too!

Keira came to a sudden stop on the sand and gasped loudly, opening her mouth and then covering it with her hand. It couldn't be! Yet, it was. Something had told her to come here for a reason. She must've truly _felt _that she hadn't lost him. That Marcus was still alive. How… That was still a mystery to her. Maybe love was the strongest bond of them all. Maybe one just knew when the other person was dead.

He saw her as she was just standing there, the wind in her hair and he thought that she was never more beautiful than at this very moment. He could finally see her in this wonderful light of a day, under the light of the Sun. Her skin looked a little more brown than he remembered and he realized that it was tanned. Another thing he'd never really seen on the Ark. Wasting so much precious energy just to tan somebody had seemed ridiculous up there.

There was a commotion that distracted Marcus and he seemed to wake up just now. Abby was already gone, making her way toward Clarke and the people from inside the ship started coming out, too.

There was really no place for him but with Keira on the ground. Finally, he snapped himself out of this strange stupor. All he'd wanted was to come back to her and once he was here and finally saw her, he was incapable of any movement.

Then something changed. She smiled. She smiled at him with tears in her eyes and made a step forward. His heart surged and he went with it, jumping off the ship and running through the waters at the shore. He'd never felt something like that before, he'd never run in the water either. It was a wet feeling at the bottom of his pants' legs, but he liked it. It was refreshing. Soon he would be able to actually take a bath in the lake or spring. He couldn't wait to discover all the wonders of this world with the love of his life.

"Keira!" he finally was able to speak as he ran toward her.

"Marcus!"

They met in their mid-ways and she thrust herself into his arms, nearly knocking the breath out of him, but he didn't mind. He could finally have her there in his arms, he could feel the warm of her body next to his, the smell of her skin that he would never be able to forget. Then he felt her shaking and he realized that she was crying.

"Oh my god… Oh my god… I thought you were dead!" she squealed and pulled away just to be able to cup his face and look into his eyes. Then she closed the distance between them and kissed him, desperate to feel his lips moving under hers. It was him or no one, she was sure of it. Rebecca could keep telling her that she might move on one day, but Keira knew better. Marcus had changed her forever and she would never meet another person like him.

As they kissed, he could feel her tears running down his own face.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… there was a coup and Diana Sidney took control. She was on that drop ship. I never made it," he made it clear for her when grabbing her face now for a change and wiping her tears with his thumbs.

"It doesn't matter now," she just said, still in a big shock of seeing him alive. She was looking at him like she still couldn't believe. "You're here. You're really here."

"Yes, I am, baby. I am," he assured her.

Then the adrenaline caused by seeing the Earth for the first time and finally seeing Keira again worn off and Marcus found himself staggering, nearly collapsing, but he was held by Keira and by some young man he didn't know, though he looked kind of familiar.

"Are you all right, Councilor?" Bellamy asked.

"I'm just lightheaded," Marcus answered. "Malnutrition, dehydration, physical fatigue and the journey down here…" his voice trailed off as the memories of what had happened before he came to Earth passed through his mind.

"It' ok. We'll help you to the camp," Keira said when supporting one of his side whereas Bellamy helped from the other.

"I'll be fine. I'm better already."

"Here, some water," Rebecca offered and Marcus accepted with gratefulness.

"I see you've made some friends. Finally," he turned to Keira and she just smiled to him in response.

"I missed you so much," she said in a soft voice as she pulled her arms over his middle.

"I missed you, too."

"Let's go home," she decided and he just nodded.

As they were making their way, both of them still had troubles of adjusting to the new situation. It all seemed to happen too fast for them to fully realize the extent of it. Keira thought she would yet have to get used to it and make herself believe it was real. She'd already pinched herself a couple of times and she was still there by his side. She decided to forget about all those weeks without him and just enjoy his presence by her side. Enjoy the here and now.

As they made it to the camp, Marcus was too weak and he barely heard Abby starting explaining everything he'd done for the people of the Ark and what he'd been through. He'd truly been through too much of exertion in comparison to the rest of them and he'd forgotten to eat while he'd been busy thinking over a good strategy to save them all.

Keira, again with the help of Bellamy, got Marcus to her tent, so he could lie down.

"Thank you," she turned to Bellamy and nodded.

"No problem. Let us know if you or he need anything."

"Just call if you do!" she heard coming from smiling Rebecca. "And I'll be right there with it! I'm happy for you, friend," she added and winked at Keira.

Keira smiled back and closed the tent, staying inside with Marcus.

After she'd given him some more water, he was already soundly asleep.

"I love you," she whispered to him even though she knew he couldn't hear her now. Then she kissed him gently and watched him sleep, still being in an awe that he was truly there.

* * *

Marcus woke up in the morning to a wet but refreshing feeling on his face. For a moment there he was wondering where he was and what exactly happened. Then, instead of this pleasurable sensation, he felt stinging pain in his hand. In the hand he'd injured when getting through the shaft in the Ark to save the people trapped there because of what Sidney had done.

Ark had burnt in the Earth atmosphere, he remembered and winced at the memory, and somehow he was safe on Earth now. Safe with _her_.

He opened his eyes widely when there was something put to his mouth and he felt fresh water. He drunk instantly.

When he finally made out his surrounding, he realized that Keira had just been cleaning his face and then his wound.

"You want something to eat? We don't have much here. We need to pick fruits and hunt for meat, but it's enough to survive. It's even more than we had on the Ark, so…" she handed him a piece of smoked meat. A piece which he accepted gratefully and as he bit into it, he discovered that it was actually delicious. Maybe he was just ravenous, but it still tasted good.

"What happened out there?" she asked when taking his injured hand into her own. He slowly made it to a sitting position and felt lightheaded again. She was right. He needed food, so he kept on chewing and swallowing.

"For once I wanted to do something right," he said hoarsely. "I helped everyone I could after I made the choice of sentencing three hundred and twenty of them to death."

"Marcus, I already told you that it wasn't your fault," Keira said stubbornly. "Jaha was right when telling you this. Where is he, by the way?" she suddenly asked.

"You didn't hear?" Marcus frowned, surprised.

"I never left your side," Keira admitted. "Rebecca brought the food and water, but I didn't ask her about anything. I just know that you've been made the Chancellor. She told me. Congratulations, by the way."

"I was?" he seemed surprised.

"Clarke's mother didn't want to be one. She said she rather focus on healing. Oh, and Rebecca told me that Bellamy, the boy who helped you out yesterday, was chosen to represent our interest, the 100's. He's the oldest so…"

"Bellamy?" Marcus frowned. "Isn't that the boy who shot Jaha?" he finally remembered.

"He did, but he was desperate and cornered. He just wanted to come here to be with his sister."

"I know that," Marcus admitted when finishing his piece of meat.

"Tell me what happened out there, Marcus," Keira asked. "I need to know what happened on the Ark."

So he did. A couple of times he even needed to look away, because her reaction was a little too much to handle.

"I hate that you were willing to sacrifice yourself like that. You almost didn't make it down here!"

"To be honest," he said, "sometimes I think you'd be better off without me. I am a murderer. And I'm certainly not a good man."

"How many times do I have to tell you that you're not a murderer?!" she raised her voice when looking him in the eye. "You thought those people needed to be sacrificed and you might've been wrong about that, but they would've died anyway!" She cupped his face, so he would know how serious she was at the moment. "There wasn't enough drop ships, Marcus. And then the Ark was left crippled. None of that was your fault. Besides, they volunteered."

"How do you do that?" he suddenly asked, nearly in astonishment. "You always see the best in me."

"Well, love would do just that to a person."

He was silent for a moment and then he asked, "Have you met someone here?"

"Sure, I made a few good friends," she answered.

"That's not what I'm talking about. There are a lot of young men here. Men you couldn't meet before. I would understand, Keira. You thought I was dead and being with someone else could be actually good for you."

"When will you stop punishing yourself?" she asked him when losing the hold on his face. "Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

He nearly gasped at how well she knew him. How well she could read him.

"I…" he started and then something happened that he did not see coming. She actually swatted him!

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"Good, it was supposed to! I'm sick of your speeches about how wrong we are for each other! And no, I haven't been with anyone nor have I fallen for somebody else! Don't you dare doubt my love! Don't you dare! I do love you and I will never stop! Are we clear on that?"

"Yes," he said, actually smiling to her for the first time that day. He started feeling giddy out of a sudden. Maybe it was his blood sugar's level coming back to normal, but something told him it was her and the possibility of their future together.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked.

"I just can't believe I've got so lucky in my life. Look where we are. We're both here, safely on Earth and together."

"And I'm legally eighteen, so there's no one to scoff at us."

He grabbed her face and kissed her.

"Is there a stream or a lake somewhere where I can take a bath?" he asked when he let her go.

"I wouldn't recommend the lake unless you want to get eaten by a giant snake," Keira said and he frowned, not really catching up. "I'll explain later… There's a spring though and it's safe as long as you don't fall down the small waterfall it opens up to, because down there is the lake and the snake."

Marcus laughed.

"Lead the way."


	10. Chapter 9

**Part 09**

As Keira led Marcus toward the exit of the camp, she could feel people staring at them. It didn't really matter who it was, both the 100 and the crash survivors watched them with interest. And she really didn't care. They finally reached the exit and she led Marcus toward the stream.

"We leave a red blanket on this tree when somebody takes a bath," she explained when spotting that the blanket was currently in its hiding place. "You know, so it wouldn't be awkward if someone catches you naked."

"I never took criminals for people able to set rules for themselves," Marcus admitted.

"Well, we were forced to. No society can work without them, really."

"That makes me really proud of you," he said. "And I'm sure Jaha would be delighted to know that even those who were prisoners once can build something so amazing like the camp in the woods."

Keira sniggered at that. "You so don't want to know about the fights that were going on at first."

"It's only normal to fight. What is important is that you've come so far… and this looks really refreshing," he said at the sight of the small spring that later on was forming a waterfall.

"Just don't get too close to the edge, because you'll slip and fall," Keira warned him.

Marcus came near the water and began stripping his clothes. He would need to rinse them, too, he decided. Good thing Keira brought some spare ones from the camp.

"Will you just stand there and watch?" he asked when he was finally in the spring, raveling in the wonderful feeling of fresh and cool water on his battered and still tired body. "I thought there was a blanket on a tree," he turned to tease her, "it means you either in or out."

She just sent him a naughty smile and soon enough, she joined him in the spring. They started kissing under the water coming down on them from the crease in the rocks. It truly resembled a shower.

"I'm scared what we'll do during the winter," Keira finally voiced her concern.

"Let's not think about it now. We'll figure something out later," Marcus assured her when cupping her face and meeting her eyes. "As soon as we deal with the grounders, we'll going to the mountains. There should be an old shelter there."

"We tried to get there, but it resulted in one of us nearly getting speared to death," she pointed out.

"I'm so sorry for everything you needed to go through here."

"And I'm sorry for what you had to go through up there on the Ark. We've all being through enough, Marcus. We can only look into the future now."

"You always wanted to have sex in the shower," he noticed. "Now you have your chance. It doesn't get any closer."

She laughed deliciously and then pressed he body into his, stirring him into arousal.

* * *

They got back to the camp in time for the bonfire. They were all about to meet and talk seriously about the danger that were the grounders.

"We need to figure out a way to fight them. We tried being at peace and it didn't work," Bellamy notified. "Now, my sister was told that they are coming for us. They'll due to attack the morning after tomorrow. We do not have much time to prepare."

Keira and Marcus was still at the centre of attention as Marcus was now the Chancellor.

When he and Bellamy were talking over the 100's plan, which basically was blowing up the fuel under the drop ship and hiding inside, Abby came to Keira.

"Pleased to meet you. We were never actually introduced. I'm Abigail Griffin, Clarke's mother."

"Nice to meet you," Keira smiled warmly at the woman. "Clarke was really devastated when she thought you died. She wished to have another chance to speak to you."

"Well, thankfully, she got it." Abby smiled at the girl and then she suddenly frowned.

"Is everything all right?" Keira asked, not really sure what to make out of the woman's expression.

"Yes. Yes. Fine. I just thought you reminded me of someone, but I'm clearly wrong."

* * *

"Don't you wish it could just stop?" Keira asked when Marcus followed her later on into her tent.

"What? Them looking at us?" he asked.

Just before they'd gotten inside, a boy out of the crowd screamed, "Is this old man really that much better than I could've been for you?" It had been Malcolm, who else!

Marcus, to Keira's astonishment, had completely ignored that and it was Bellamy who snapped at Malcolm, "Do I have to remind you that whatever the hell you want is a past tense?! There are laws now that you need to obey! You owe this man some respect! Not only is he the Chancellor now, but he also risked his life to get our people down here!"

"No," Keira denied. "That wasn't what I was talking about, but I'm still astonished that you didn't punish that boy for speaking so rudely of you."

"I feel lenient today," Marcus answered when smiling to her warmly.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes. Now, tell me what's wrong, my love."

"I'm just afraid of what's coming. We've been through hell and there's more. The grounders can kill us all."

"They won't," Marcus answered, very sure of himself and placed his hands on Keira's shoulders. "I'm surprised at how good Raven's plan is. Getting them here and blowing it all up and then marching into the mountains is a very good idea."

"Who said the 100 were ever dumb?" Keira teased him when kissing him. "Did you notice that they don't hate you anymore?" she asked a moment later. "You're a hero now and I couldn't be more proud of you."

He just smiled at her again and said, "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to make love to you."

"Is that so? That shower sex wasn't enough?"

"I'll never have enough of you, especially not after such a long separation."

Soon they were naked, about to make love and Keira discovered that she actually liked the missionary style even more than her straddling him like she'd used to do on the Ark.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear just before he climaxed.

"I love you, too," she answered and they came together.

* * *

Keira wake up first. She was used to getting up with dawn and Marcus was still exhausted after what had happened on the Ark and on its way down. Last night had done nothing for him to regain the strength as well, she smiled at the memory. She kissed him gently, so he wouldn't wake up and after getting dressed, she slipped out to get some breakfast.

"Keira!" Abby called her as she was going back to the tent. "I need to talk to you!"

The urgency of Clark's mother's voice piqued Keira's interest, so she quickly made her way to Mrs. Griffin. "Yes?"

"I told you I thought you reminded me of someone last night," the woman said, "and I needed to be sure first before I would tell you. I checked Sinclair's tablet where we have all the database form the Ark… Where was the last time you looked at your own records, Keira?" Abby asked.

"Never," the girl answered according to the truth. "Why would I bother?"

"When your biological parents died, you were being taken care of by your aunt," Abby said and Keira nodded. "Did you know that she faked your birth date, so she would get more rations? Children need better nutrition, did you know that?"

"What? Wait… What are you saying?" Keira got nervous.

"She made you believe you're eighteen now," Abby said.

"What? And I'm not?" At this point Keira couldn't think logically and she got scared that somehow she was even younger. But it couldn't be possible. Her body didn't look so young!

"I'm saying that you are not eighteen, Keira. In fact, you've just turned twenty three."

"What?!" she repeated the same word over and over again in shock. Her eyes opened widely and she needed to sit down for she would lose the hold on the food. "This changes everything," she murmured. She'd never really paid any attention to the years passing by her. Her aunt had always locked her up when there had been a celebration, so Keira had had no way of knowing if that had been the New Year or Christmas or the Unity Day. She'd never really known what day it'd been and how fast the time had been passing by. She'd been sneaking out on occasion, but only to steal some more food until she'd eventually escaped her aunt's forever.

"Thank you so much, Councilor Griffin," Keira finally said and stood up. "I… I need to go now." She ran toward the tent without saying anything else.

"Where were you?" Marcus asked when sitting up and then covering his naked chest because it wasn't warm outside in the morning.

Keira just handed him the water and slipped back under the covers, snuggling up to his side.

"Keira?" he asked a moment later, pretty concerned about her. "What is it?"

So she told him. It was good news after all.

"This… this is brilliant news!" she exclaimed. "I'm not that young, Marcus. What we have… we didn't break any law and it was always _right_. I am an adult and I've been one for a few years now."

"And you were the one to say that age was just a number," Marcus teased her, happy about the news himself.

"Don't use my words against me! I thought you'd be simply happier that I'm older. This changes everything."

"I know. And you have no idea how glad I am to hear this. Still, you need to know that it doesn't change anything between us."

"Of course, it doesn't," she actually laughed. "If you were dating an eighteen year old, you can as well date a twenty three, unless you rather have them so young…"

"That didn't sound all that well," he noticed and they both laughed and then they kissed.


	11. Epilog

**Epilogue**

When she opened her eyes, all she saw was this blinding whiteness. For a moment she just lay there, in a... bed (?), confused and scared.

What had happened to her? Where was she?

She carefully sat up and noticed that she was locked in an impeccable white room. She frowned as her head ached.

She stood up and walked toward the circular window in the door. There was no handle, so all that she could do was to look outside.

She was stunned as she saw the wall with a text on it: Mount Weather, Quarantine Ward.

She closed her eyes and put her hands to her head as memories, though still fuzzy, started slowly coming back to her. Mount Weather was the place the 100 had supposed to look for once they landed on Earth. Only they couldn't, because the grounders would've killed them if they'd crossed the border.

Somebody was walking down the corridor and Keira screamed, but clearly the sound couldn't be heard from the other side. She began pounding on the door, but she knew this wouldn't do either.

Finally, two women met and started talking. One of them was Abigail Griffin!

When the woman Keira didn't know finally left, Abigail turned to look at the girl like she knew all this time that she was watching.

Keira voiced a silent plea and then Abby sent her a small smile and raised her thumb up. What that was supposed to mean? Keira wondered. That everything was ok? Where was Marcus then?!

"Oh god…" escaped her mouth as Abigail left and Keira remembered exactly what had happened.

* * *

_The war had began. The grounders had attacked and everyone who wasn't fighting was supposed to go into the drop ship._

_ Keira watched as Jasper ran out of ammo and then after knocking a grounder out, he made his way inside. There was no point in risking his life when he didn't have a weapon. He didn't notice one grounder that sneaked up behind him though, but soon enough Rebecca was the one to safe Jasper when shooting._

_ Keira looked away when they actually kissed as they walked into the ship, but she was happy for her friend._

_ What happened later was one big blur of screams and terror._

_ The grounders invaded their camp._

_ Keira yelled to Marcus to get inside and safe himself._

_ A grounder stood in his way._

_ "We need to close it! Quickly!" Clarke was screaming to Finn who was yet so far away. He turned to her and was about to run when another opponent grabbed him from behind._

_ "Marcus!" Keira was done. She would go and get him herself if not… "Watch out!"_

_ Bellamy just showed up, coming back to camp, but without his sister. Keira could only hope that Octavia was fine._

_ "Clarke, we need to fire now!" Abby called after her daughter as the door began closing._

_ "NOO!" both Clarke and Keira seemed to scream at the same time. Marcus and Finn were still out there. Bellamy was out there. _

_ Clarke was forced inside by her mother. Keira by Rebecca._

_ And all was over._

_ Once they walked out of the ship, they were gassed by the mountain men…_

* * *

Keira couldn't stop screaming. If they didn't hear her, they at least saw her, because there was a camera in the room. She _needed _to know what had really happened. She _needed _to know if Marcus was ok. He _had _to be. She hadn't seen him dead, had she? There was still hope. She would always have hope. Besides, she didn't feel like he was dead. It was the same feeling when she'd thought he'd died in the drop ship explosion, but her heart had been telling her a different story. He'd been alive then.

He needed to be alive now, too.

Finally, after what must've been a couple of hours during which Keira lost her voice, the door opened and she saw Abigail.

"What's happening?!" She got to her feet immediately. "Why am I under quarantine?! Is Marcus ok?! Please, tell me…"

"Keira, calm down or they'll keep you here for a little longer," Abby said in a hard voice and closed the door behind her. "Just breathe."

"Is Marcus alive?!" she yelled again, ignoring the doctor's words. She wouldn't be able to breathe until she found out the truth.

"Finn died during the blast," Abigail began saying, "but Bellamy saved Marcus."

"Oh, thank god!" Keira released a breath of relief and sat back on the bed, hiding her face in her hands. "Thank god!" she repeated.

"It's not everything," Abby added when coming closer to her. "Keira, they managed to escape the blast, but Marcus got hurt. He needed operation and I was assisting. I thought you'd trust me better than the people here that you don't know."

"Thank you, you thought right," Keira finally met the older woman's eyes. "How did it go?"

"It was touch and go for a while, but for now he's alive. He's in a coma, but he should wake up soon."

"So… he'll be fine?"

"I can't promise anything, but I think he will be."

"Where are we, then? What is this place?"

"We had no idea that people survived down here and created a small community," doctor Griffin explained. "They aren't hostile. They're happy we came to Earth. After all, we're one of them whereas the grounders are not."

"Mountain men… the grounders are afraid of them, aren't they?" Keira made sure. "So, they're just one of us?"

"Yes," Abigail admitted. "And now the grounders won't attack us again. We wiped them out pretty good."

"Why didn't they come help us earlier?" Keira asked. "Why now?"

"They thought you would all die out. The grounders' bodies look like ours but they are somewhat mutated. Only the strongest ones and the most resilient are fine. When the 100 survived for so long and then when the Ark was brought down… the mountain men decided to take us. As you can see, you're in the quarantine section, but they've already examined you and you are healthy. Most of us are and they're still working on some of the others to decide if they're fine, too."

"So… I can get out of here?" Keira asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes, that's why I came for you, but I needed to explain everything first. I will get you out, but you need to remember to be civil. If you act out, they'll probably lock you back in. I already spent a good amount of time convincing them that you're not a minor."

"What?"

"They don't like controversial relationships even more than we did on the Ark, so that says something. Don't worry, though. They know there's been a mistake and that you're actually older. I proved it to them."

"Good thing, because otherwise I wouldn't be civil with them… Can I see Marcus now?"

"We owe those people a lot, Keira. Without them, he'd be already dead, so you can't hold their law against them. Don't insult them."

"I won't. I promise."

Keira shuddered at the thought that she'd been so close to losing the man she loved again, but decided to put it aside. Marcus was all right and she would soon see him.

Abigail led the girl through long and dark corridors until they left the quarantine section and found themselves in the hospital. Now they were passing many people on their way and everyone watched them with curiosity.

Finally, they stopped in front of a locked door and nearby, on a bench, were sitting Clarke and Bellamy. Clarke was currently crying and Bellamy was trying to comfort her.

Keira decided to talk to them first. After all, she owed Bellamy Marcus's life.

"Clarke," she turned toward the girl. "I'm so sorry."

The blonde just nodded.

"And Bellamy, thank you. I heard what you did, so thank you so much for saving Marcus."

"No problem, Keira," he sent her a sad smile. "It was the least I could do. I just wish I was close enough to save Finn as well."

"Don't beat yourself up…" Clarke spoke. "You did what you could, Bellamy. I saw it."

Finally, Keira was able to walk into the room in which Marcus was recovering.

It was hard for her to see him battered up and unconscious, freshly after an operation, but at least he was still alive.

"Come back to me," she whispered to him as she took his hand and stroked it with her fingers. "Come back to me, Marcus. I love you and I need you so much."

* * *

It was only when a few hours passed that Marcus finally woke up.

Keira was still sitting by side and still holding his hand with less and less hope with every passing minute. He should've woken up by now, she kept on thinking when staring blindly at the opposite wall.

Then she felt his hand squeezing hers and she immediately looked back at his face to see him awake.

"Marcus! You're awake!" she yelled and got to her feet, cupping his face and placing a soft kiss on his lips. She didn't want to hurt him with being too eager, but she needed to kiss him. She needed to know that he was there and that he was alive.

"I love you," Marcus just said and that was all she needed to hear.

Although in a few weeks she would hear even bigger news. She would hear that she was pregnant. Then Bellamy and Clarke would start dating and Octavia would bring Lincoln to Mount Weather.

It was a brave new world and they would get to see it being rebuilt.

* * *

**THE END**

* * *

**AN: **I intended for it to be a much longer and elaborated story, but sometimes things don't always go the way we anticipate.

If you like the other character that Henry Ian Cusick played - Desmond in LOST - you can read my other story - Found _You in Another Life_. That one will be longer!


End file.
